You can play in tournaments regardless of your rating.
A rating is just a snapshot of where you are. If you have been studying for years and are 1300, that's not very good. If you are just starting out, 1300 is quite respectable.
If your goal is to play chess professionally, you should be +2200 standard time control on this site by the time you're 17!
You can play in tournaments now! Beginners are welcome, 1300 is more than enough.
The best 16 year olds are at least master strength already. A competitive rating for a national under 16 tourney would be around class A to expert, lets say 1700-2100. You're not going to win the whole thing but you'll be in the pack somewhere.
But really that's just if you started young and have a coach and have been going to tournaments for years. At 1300 you'll beat almost any casual adult player. It's not so much about your age but about when you started taking chess seriously and trying to get better.
I knew the basics when I was quite young, but I started taking chess seriously maybe 18 months ago. Not professionally, I'm just looking to play competitvely in tournements.
And I can't really get a coach... None in my area, and I don't really have the money to get a good coach anyway.
Sounds like you're on the right track then, no worries 
Tournaments are really good to learn from, if you're serious about improving I suggest going. Often they have sections so you'll get to play people around your level e.g. an under 1400 section where there will be a lot of people rated between 1200 and 1400.
If you want to hold off on tournaments until you're as good as you can be you'll never go. There's always improvement to make and actually tournaments give some of the best lessons and help you improve a lot.
And I can't really get a coach... None in my area, and I don't really have the money to get a good coach anyway.
Most people don't have coaches. If you're not trying to get a title or go pro it's really not worth it. You can make tons of improvement on your own.
It's all practice in the end I suppose, it'd just be nice to have someone point out my specific weaknesses... I can probably deduce most of that myself, though . Have most of the 1800+ standard players on this site had coaches? Not that I'm aiming for that right now, just curious.
I'd venture to guess most players under 2200 (master level) have never had a coach. Although some will get one for a day, or a few months, or a year or something like this.
I've never had a coach... but after a tournament game often the players will go over the game with each other and talk about what they thought and saw. This is called a post mortem and if you just lost to a player much better than you it's a free lesson. Also after club games I've been given good advice, these are free personalized lessons too. You can also post your games on the chess.com forum under analysis and you'll get comments from good players, sometimes titled players too.
Anyway, with places like this site (or just books) you can go far. Unless you want to be a master before age 20 or something it's really not necessary to get a coach. Coaches don't do the work for you, it's still all you, they just point you in the right direction and give useful tips along the way. A lot of that you can get here and in post mortems... not the same frequency, but again unless you're in a rush it's really not necessary.
Everything is relative.
Most high schools have no more than one player rated +1400 USCF. The best high school players in most states are around 2100, and the national champions are usually ~2400-2500 USCF.
If you want to compete against other high school students, go ahead and start playing USCF events as soon as you feel ready! The state high school championships are usually in February-March, so you may be too late for this year. But it's never too early to start preparing for next year!
Massachusetts has a very unusual situation. In 2012, the state High School champion was rated 2089, but the U14 champion and two of the runners-up were all +2100, with one being +2300! Still, if you are +1400 USCF you are probably going to be the best chess player in your school.
Massachusetts has a very unusual situation. In 2012, the state High School champion was rated 2089, but the U14 champion and two of the runners-up were all +2100, with one being +2300! Still, if you are +1400 USCF you are probably going to be the best chess player in your school.
Heh, yeah that's true. I've looked up some kids I've played in the past and in their K12 type tournaments I usually see a horde of 1000-1300 players and at the top is a 1600 or 1700 kid with a perfect score.
ShadowKnight: If you are comparing him to Carlsen, it's hard to believe you are serious. It's kind of hard to beat someone's achievement of getting to 2800 FIDE lol.
I'm 1682 USCF (but around 1800 strength I've been told, I lost some points at a small tournament where I was ill and played the U2100 at vegas which didn't help my rating either) and I am by far the best player in my school. The second best player I would put at about 1200 strength.
At my old school (I transfered from a boarding school to a public school this year as a junior), I was the first board but not the highest rated. We had an 1800 and several players of 1400+ strength who had never played uscf matches. I was first board because I was more experienced with scholastic chess (G45, 8 board teams, etc) than the 1800 player and I had a positive score in our games against each other.
And the last high school tournament I went to, I nearly won losing only the final game to a player who lost on tiebreakers (he was 1700, I blundered into a mating net with about 30s on my clock up 2 pawns in the ending).
But all of these ratings are USCF, not chess.com, and playing OTB and online are two completely different things.
And I've had two coaches, been studying chess a year and a month or two, and
ShadowKnight: If you are comparing him to Carlsen, it's hard to believe you are serious. It's kind of hard to beat someone's achievement of getting to 2800 FIDE lol.
yeah comparing rating to rating there's not much of a comparision, but to write two very successful books at the same time is a huge accomplishment. Plus I think that Daniel wrote a published book on the history of the world back before he was even a teenager.
Well either he had a lot of help, or it wasn't a very good/detailed book 
I haven't read his chess books. What rating range are they aimed at?
Although I have to laugh a bit when the title is "Mastering Complex Endgames" and the kid was only 13 or 14. I don't care if Capablanca wrote it, at 13 or 14 you haven't mastered anything yet much less have the ability to write a book about it.
I mean, I'm sure it contains good information, but the title oversells it a bit don't you think?
Yeah, right now I'm either best in my school or second best. But that doesn't mean much in the real world, does it?
And I agree, the title is overreaching a bit... The kid is probably unbelievable, but he can't really say he's mastered something yet.
Man you're 16, regardless of what your rating is now, be comforted in knowing the fact that you're young enough to become ridiculously strong if you work at chess daily. I'd pay a tremendous amount to be able to go back in time and convince myself to start playing chess at 16....
Also, as mentioned before, the sooner you get into live tournaments the better. Try to find a local club if you haven't, as well! OTB chess is a lot more fun and rewarding than online chess
I'm 16, and I have a standard rating of 1300. I want to be able to play in tournements someday. So what I'm curious is, am I at a decent place right now for my age? I know I'm not ready yet, but how far am I from tournement play?