learning chess

Hello I am Douglas Murray one reason I am on this great chess site is because I really cannot find anyone to play chess with me. I have not played a real person in many many years. I understand chess and as you can see on this site I love practicing and playing chess. But I do not understand some things like the time clock and things like that. I really do not understand tournaments and how that is done. I would appreciate anybody's help .Thank you all for reading this.