As with any skill in life, chess requires daily and purposeful practice if you want to be the best you can be.
Yes the top 10 players are chess geniuses, but perhaps what sets them apart the most is a huge capacity for work.
To think that chess, or any complex skill, can be mastered haphazardly though trial and error alone is to greatly underestimate that skill.
chess is patterns. study tactics and learn the patterns. that's life as well.