What I discovered after being away from Chess for 25 years

I had to quit chess because of Adrenal problem.  Doctor said my nervous system was overworked and my life was in danger unless I stop doing any stressful other than my career related work.  But now after my health is better, I only play unrated games and some daily games where there is no time limit.  I do have some rated games under my belt by accident.  After playing some unrated games, some people come back to challenge me on rated games and I wasn't paying attention.  

So after 25 years, my tactical ability suffered greatly.  It went from class A to probably class C level.  The highest level I reached back then was about 1900+ USCF, but now I can probably barely beat someone 1300.  The middle game strategy part however was fine like I didn't miss anything.  The end game knowledge is still there.  I still remember opposition and how to draw or win rook ending.  

The opening knowledge is completely gone.  Opening knowledge is not just about what to move and move order, but more importantly it is about how to punish those who play less than optimal moves.  Right now I don't even remember what the right moves are and much less being able to take advantage of sub optimal moves.

Also what is fashionable is completely different.  Back then, at least in the club level, there was a lot of Dragons vs. Yogoslavian attack.  French defense was really popular to the point that a lot of people believed that black had the advantage in French defense.  A lot of club level players are very scared of the French defense as white.  Also Nimzo-indian and Gunfeld were the main weapon against d pawn opening but I haven't see those.  Also I haven't seen Dutch defense or stonewall defense.  Nowadays I see a lot of Petroff and QGD.  (Those are really boring as hell)  

Back then ICC doesn't exist.  There was no such thing as online chess.  There was this thing called stand alone chess computer.  Those are so bad that you can even beat it.  

Nowadays there are way more ways and more resources for a person to get good at chess.  Back then, resources are hard to come by.  However, strangely, I don't see much of an improvement in the overall chess play strength of the general population.  I think playing strength in the same ratings group remain the same., so a 1300-1500 player back then is the same as a 1300-1500 player now.  I think that might be due to the increased amount of distractions in modern days like video games, netflix, online porn, and etc.  

Welcome back to chess! There is some misconceptions. The average amateur chess players haven't changed because there are millions of beginners in chess due to Covid and popularity of the Queen's Gambit Netflix series. The serious amateurs have become stronger due to many chess resources like books, chess websites, chess apps, etc. Professional chess players are Stronger too. Some criticized the mistakes of Super GMs by checking with Engine Analysis. Many compare the accuracy of Capablanca and Morphy to Modern GMs. But they forgot to compare the time control used. Classical time control is longer and Adjournment is allowed half century ago. Serious players... amateur and professional have never been so strong.