To study or not to study?

Yes this is the question for many chess players......What to study???  Openings?? Middle Game?? End Game???  I guess alot could be said for all of them, I am no expert for sure (Chess.com rating 1704) but I have no Idea what to do to take my game to the next level or higher.  Not sure I patiance to read and study a perticular opening, even though I should.  So tell me what you think is the best way to study and which one would you work on.

Can't go wrong studying entire games. Try an annotated game collection, or even playing over master games without annotations online.

I recommend not studying at all (as can be deduced from my rating).  When I learn something new from a game, I experience the joy of discovery, even though "everybody" knows that already. Turning a delightful pastime into work is "something up with which I will not put!"

There is new chess book that guides self-study players:

Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis

Sorry, guys.  I thought the question was "To Choose to Study" vs. "To Choose NOT to Study," and I guess my Choose Notters Group is pretty small; so as Miss Emily Littela would say, "...........Never mind."

I am curious, top players, how many moves do they see ahead? Because I can only see about 2-3 moves ahead if I am really thinking.

Over the years I tried reading books, and it helped a little but not much considering the amount of time and effort.  I became a Diamond member here on Chess.com and my rating shot up over 300 points.  Here's how I did it.  

First, the Tactics Trainer is fantastic at getting you to learn tactical patterns and ideas. You make a move then the computer makes a move.  If you make a wrong move it will tell you and you can either try again or ask for the solution, which will be played out on the board for you.  You only have a certain amount of time to make all the moves in the problem, which forces you to focus, and you get a Tactics rating, which keeps you motivated.

Then there's the incredible videos where you gave GM's and other experts explaining ideas move by move.  GM Khachiyan is particularly good at explaining positional ideas.   A GM would probably charge you about $50 for one hour, and here you can access these videos and watch whole series on a given topic by a top notch instructor.  

Then there's Chess Mentor, which I started with a couple of months ago. Use the Adaptive option and it gives you problems with answers explaining why your move was correct or not correct. I'm telling you that you will improve quickly and with not too much effort like trying to get through a chess book.  It's ridiculously inexpensive.  Do it and you will thank me.

Chuck

if you really wont to learn ,well here is your first lesson.