Hey!
I do have a tournament tomorrow, but also this is a basic-general question, how to prepare 'like a pro' for your tournaments, by which I mean how to nicely prepare about openings/traps/variations/gambits which you opponent could possibly play?
Any help would, well, really help :D
You do not have conditions pro has. You do not know for sure against whom you are playing and there is no way to know what openings they are playing. So you cannot prepare like they do. And games at you level are decided on middle game regardless how well you get out opening.
I think you didn't understand, I meant that in my level (usually ~1560 FIDE), yes we don't know the opponents of ours, and thus don't know what opening they will play. But we can still prepare for some common openings and traps we have less/no idea of but have heard about it and know that it's a popular pick.
The day before a tournament is not the time to start preparing openings. Hopefully you know as much about your openings as you need to, well before the tournament starts. The day before you probably shouldn't be preparing chess at all. Think about getting a good night's sleep, arriving at the venue in good time and well rested. Think about having a fun day/weekend/holiday. If you're going to do any chess work, limit it to maybe solving combinations and endgames. Just light weight tactics and calculation to keep your eyes sharp, but not enough to give you eye strain. You want to be hungry for chess when you shake hands.
You want to prepare like a PRO in one day prior tournament?
1. Clean your room, house.
2. Bring out the garbage.
3. Ask parents if they need any help. If not, ask neighbors. If not go check, maybe there is some cat to be taken down from the tree. If not just stare 20 minutes towards the clouds to see different shapes.
4. Go for groceries.
5. Listen to some nice music.
6. Get a good sleep.
