How not to be nervous before chess tournaments?

I go to chess tournaments but before them im nervous and end up loosing half of the games.


Any suggestions how not to be nervous?|||i used to play in tournaments, so i know you can get nervous





the more you play, the less nervous you get





...half the games?...did you expect to win ALL the games??|||Chess tournaments require a lot of nerves. When I first started going to chess tournaments, I would follow them up with 9-ball tournaments because the latter were so relaxing by comparison.





Nowadays I no longer get nervous at chess tournaments. Possibly it had something to do with a 12-year break from tournament chess, but more likely it's a different attitude. Now, I go in focused entirely on two things: calculation and blunders. I simply plan to spend my time calculating positions as best I can, while avoiding blunders.|||I don't know, but wish I did.





This is the reason I don't play competitive chess any more - I blew too many good positions, because of nerves.





I hate it!|||Smoke some bud.