Can I still become a good chess player?

Akiba Rubinstein, Leonid Stein are both prime examples of what you're looking for in a late bloomer chess god. Your last name needs Stein in it or you have no hope.

I could probably become GM in 10 years if I dedicated my life to a pointless boring game, and I was no better than Niking about 13 years ago when we played at our local club together.

Don't waste your time with chess. Quit while you are ahead/still bad.

I think a lot of players if they REALLY wanted to could become a very seriously strong player with coaching of all kinds and playing/studying every chance they possibly could get.

Coaching is a joke. That is the lazy way out. Buy some books and turn the pages. It's called reading; top to bottom, left to right. Group words to form sentences. Take tylenol for any headaches, midol for any cramps.

#23 - Goodness.. Good thing it's so easy for you.

With that said I will tell you mine.

I am 40. I started at 22. I am dyslexic. Most of my training is from video instruction because of the dyslexia. I went from 900-1970 USCF after 22.

I trained professionally someone in 2008-2012. He was 22. He also went from 900 to 1900 in 4 years because of my training.

If we can do it after 20, you can do more after 15. You just need the right materials and motivation.

I didn't have the right materials. Just the right motivation so my improvement was slow. I didn't reach 1900+ till after I was 30. I am still trying to reach 2000+ at 40, but I feel I am going to do it within the next year or so.

If I don't quit, why should you?

BTW: The student I had is currently 1900+ with his age under 30. Trust me.. 4 years with a 1000+ improvement is nothing for a 15 year old.

There are hundreds of hobbies besides chess. One of the reasons I'm not very good at chess is because I have other hobbies which I devote my time to, even though I started chess at a relatively young age.

For many competitive things (especially sports),
you can become better than 99% of people simply by practicing a lot. However, in order to be a world-class competitor, you need the natural talent. For example, a person who is 5 feet tall could learn to sprint very quickly, but they'd never beat Usain Bolt's 100m world-record time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_metres#Gender_and_ethnicity

With that said, if you feel you have a passion for chess, then by all means go for the high rating. Your passion will cause you to practice and learn more, and your rating will go up depending on how much you play. Don't play chess because you want the high rating; earn your rating through hard work (whether it's 1500 or 2500) because you love the game.

I started around November. I have a feeling like its not when you started but how you start and your determination level.