does anybody have any tips for competing in a fencing competition?

Answer 1

Here is the cheatsheet I bring to get myself in the proper mindset before a tournament. It has the word "MOVE" watermarked in the background.

MOVE—keep feet moving, keep point moving, play w/ opponent to create opportunities
Preparations for Attack—if you aren’t ready to retreat, you are already attacking!
Smooth is fast—smooth hands - smooth feet. Watch body language and telegraphs
Control Tempo—Make it happen! Don’t sit till plan comes to you—MOVE—do something!
Game Face—come On Guard relaxed and ready. Quit thinking about last touch on way to line.
Own the Distance—keep steps small on advance and retreats when engaged
Aggressive Defense—keep pecking—force mistakes, set ‘em up-knock ‘em down.
Defense Distance—feet and blade don’t stop ‘till you find blade. Riposte, explode or 2-step
Retreat under control—to uncomfortable distance, not out of distance; ready to move NOW!
Gauge opponents’ Comfort Zones—preparation cushion, rxt speed, fave parry, end of strip
MOVETight attacks, small parries, quick counters, small steps
Counterattacks—don’t rely on them; remember their devastating mental effect on opponents.
Forgotten—Fleche, balestraF-retreat-parry, cheat advance, jump uncomfortable-quickstart, 2I/CT
Zone—Slow motion—I’m waiting for rxt that I made happen, appears super quick to audience

These are notes I use for myself, so they need some footnotes if I'm passing them on.
Preparations are the steps you take prior to actually attacking, to get yourself at the proper distance to start the attack.
Note that the forgotten section is simply footwork and strategy that will fall out of my game because I forget to use it--that list will be different for everyone.
Game Face--when you are ready to fence, either putting on your mask or hearing 'on guard', the last touch, your frustration over a mistake or a bad call, the strategy you hadn't quite worked out, and everything else has to be out of your head so you are ready to work with your point. When you hear the word 'Ready', you are ready.
Aggressive Defense--there are a lot of false attacks in this style. The idea is to keep your opponent from making good attacks and good ripostes, and eventually frustrating them into making bad attacks or ripostes. Always attack first, but don't over-commit to the attacks, be ready to let them fail and do another one, just to frustrate your opponents attempts to properly set up. AggD is just one mindset you can use, but is a good one when you are out of ideas--it prevents your opponent from taking control of the bout. It is very tiring though.
Counterattacks--do them too often and you'll lose, but doing one well can mentally crush an opponent--they thought they were making a good attack that you totally ignore, and you steal a touch while you are at it--it is much worse than being parried! You can make someone abandon the best part of their game.
The stuff on gauging opponents is to be done between bouts, not during the bout.

That's what I do--hope it helps.

Answer 2

I only did fencing as part of a college phys ed class, but I'll try to help.

My fencing instructor always stressed that the sport was 90% mental, almost like a chess game. The more you know about your opponents, the better. Find out their style, they favorite opening moves, and their weaknesses; and learn how to counter them. Dont let yourself get stuck in a rut of favoring a few moves, this will throw off people trying to learn how to counter you.