How to Win Tournaments
First place has by far the biggest prize! And, as you’ll see in this article, winning tournaments may be more achievable than you thought! I’ve played hundreds of tournaments and won many of them, and I think there’s a formula to winning them. Of course, by far the main thing is your strength relative to the others in your section, but there are ways to maximize your chances.
To win a tournament, you need
1) To win almost all your games, obviously. There’s no way around this; you simply need to win a high percentage of your games. Most tournaments are five rounds, and in those, you need to win at least four
2) To not lose, but drawing a rival is somewhat acceptable because you stop your opponent from winning
3) Luck. They say you need luck to win a tournament, and I don’t disagree. There’s no shame in that, but it does mean you don’t need to be the best player in your section to win it
To win so many games, you generally want to play for a win in every game. Although for example if you’re black against a higher-rated opponent, you may decide a draw is fine in that game.
You want to rack up as many wins as possible from the start of the tournament to minimize the pressure you’re under to win later in the tournament. The ideal 5-round tournament would be WWWW, by which point you only need a draw in the last round to clinch 1st outright. If you agree a quick draw in the last round, you get the perfect tournament while only having to play four real games! Realistically, you’ll have two easier wins in the first two rounds, then you may face your toughest competition in rounds 3 and 4. Remember that one draw is ok, as long as you win the rest.
It’s easier to win a tournament when you play the easier schedule! And if you have the chance to re-enter! So choose the schedule wisely. Let’s see these principles in action in my best-ever tournament win, the Turkey Bowl 2024.
Click the moves to play through the games, with my annotations, below:
Where was the luck?! The truth is there was plenty of luck. Carlos capitulated probably a bit too easily in round 2. I think Jean Marco Cruz Mendez played below his level in round 4, and my last round was a favorable pairing. My last two rounds were both with white. There was a GM on 3.5/4, who I was lucky to avoid. And this was my fifth round opponent’s first regular tournament for 10 years; I had a feeling he could be rusty. So I
1) Won 4/5
2) Didn’t lose
3) My draw was against a rival
4) I rode my luck
Did you like that article and want more of my practical tournament tips? Check out my ebook here!