I think of myself as a retired chess player, though I occasionally consider un-retiring myself. At my best, some 25 years ago, I was a pretty strong player, and I’m still rated at well over 2300 on FIDE’s rating list, FIDE being the world chess federation. That rating no longer reflects my current playing strength of course. There are several reasons for me not to play anymore. Time constraints, other interests – but also, annoyance at my own game and performance. To reach my former level would require a massive time investment. It’s a difficult game.
But playing in a chess tournament can be a very rewarding experience. The chess crowd is very diverse and you’ll meet people from all walks of life. I fondly remember tournaments I played during summer holidays long ago, with a group of friends from my chess club, visiting great cities like London or Berlin, and having a very good time overall. So by all means, go for it!
How to improve in chess? Well, it requires some work. Just playing will probably also help, but don’t expect miracles if you don’t study the game. I’ve known chess players who never improved even after decades of play. Not a big deal of course as long as they’re having fun, but some are more ambitious. It’s tempting to study opening books, but I’d recommend tactics, endgame, strategy. There are plenty of good books on tactics, but the easy way is just to try and solve online chess puzzles. Chess is a game of pattern recognition, and the more pattern’s you’ve seen the better player you’ll be.
As for playing - try to play strong opponents. Losing may not be much fun, but it won’t kill you and it will make you stronger. Some people think that it’s more ‘fun’ to just play against equally strong opponents, but they typically won’t get past that specific level. Which is not a big deal if that level suits you just fine! But the prime reason I once hit 2300 was that I had a group of friends at roughly that same level - some a bit better, some a bit worse, but we improved a lot by fighting each other over the chess board.
And DoManMacgee does offer some good advice here too: your overall physical condition is something to be aware of, and it’s a key factor for today’s world class players. Though I must admit that in the old days, my own ‘preparation’ didn’t necessarily exclude a night of beer swilling and blitz games……