Chess

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Knowledge comes from books, software, etc.; wisdom comes by playing. 

I now know playing a lot is what helps most.

It's not an either or kind of thing. Both will help you improve, but you need to be smart and diligent to get the most out of either. It helps a lot to have an experienced player guide you, which in a sense happens when you read a book authored by one, or you get smoked by one during a game (figure out how they beat you after).

playing is learning..

Best is a mix of study AND play. Study alone does not mean that you can implement the knowledge under the pressure of game conditions, or when confronted by something "out of book." Play alone means that in many cases, you'll have to "re-invent the wheel," figuring out for yourself something which might be easily learned from the right book.

Study, then play to see if you can use the knowledge. Assess the results to decide what to study or review next. Then play some more. Throw in a few games "for fun."

I had to smile a while ago - I'm currently working through the Tarrasch book and in the beginning he states that one should not play a single game as long as he hadn't worked through the whole book, otherwise one would just be learning blunders :) and if one had finished the book, even without playing a single game he would be a decent club player :)

Still a great book though.

Play 60 - 100 tournament games a year, study your games after each tournament with a stronger player. Spend twice as much time on the studying of your past games as you did playing them.

I always urge players to study composed problems and endgames.  - Pal Benko

You should play alot of tournement games. Around 70 per year would be optimal, and of course analyze them.

But if you really want to improve, you should also study chess books. We need to know how much time you wanna use on chess, and what your goal with chess are?

Learning to play chess

"Chess rules and exercises - 5 hours
Elementary endings - 5 hours
Some openings - 10 hours
Combination - 20 hours
Positional play - 40 hours
Practical play with analysis - 120 hours

  "Having spent 200 hours on the above, the young player, even if he possesses no special talent for chess, is likely to be among those two or three thousand chessplayers [who play on a par with a master]. There are, however, a quarter of a million chessplayers who annually spend no fewer than 200 hours on chess without making any progress. Without going into any further calculations, I can assert with a high degree of certainty that nowadays we achieve only a fraction of what we are capable of achieving."

I agree. A combination of both will help your game.

I agree! I had to teach chess to myself, because I knew no one that played chess. (that was before computers) It was sort of like learning to drive by reading a book and then driving down a lonely road never knowing what it was like to drive in traffic, let alone eight lanes during a rush hour. And that is not to mention ice, snow or people texting.  One cannot improve at chess by only reading books or taking others' advice.  Even just playing a computer cannot compare with playing a human,  because of the psychological inter action between players. (I suppose it is possible to program a computer to call you names and insult you.) All of those are worth considering, but actual play must be done as much as possible. Computers play like Mr. Spock, no emotions or shortcomings.  

I prefer OTB more to any other type of play. 

 Studying helps one to understand the mechanics of the game. Playing helps in understanding the art of the game...something that can't be obtained from the textbook or a chess engine. If you only play, you will not be able readily grasp the concepts of tactical & strategic play...and the importance of piece development, pawn structure, etc. Studying also helps one to overcome certain mental thresholds like sacrificial plays (especially when it involves one or more heavy pieces), laying traps, using decoys, etc.

 Play timed games to learn how to execute under the pressure of an advancing opponent and to learn how to best utilize the time on your clock with each move. As you get comfortable with a particular time limit (let's say 15 minutes), then lower that time limit to 10 minutes and so on and so forth.

 Lastly, review and annotate your own games...especially the ones you lose so that you can discover your mistakes to improve your game play. In time, you will be able to see the board on a deeper level and develop a greater capacity of anticipating your opponents moves as you become able to identify the strong and weak areas of the board on both sides. Cheers!

~The Doctor

Once I began to record my games and learn from my mistakes my ability to improve my games increased marvelously.  The first problem I had to endure was facing the fact that the games I lost were due to my inability to play well. 

My early games were played with opponents that did not play well, and it gave me a sense of being able to play well.  Ha! There's nothing like playing against opponents that can truly play chess.  The first thing that damaged my ego was an opponent that knew how to use a knight effectively, because I prided myself in being able to use the knight well. Also, he put my pieces into knight-forks that I never saw coming. Forks I never saw before!  Yes, I truly learned why the knight is often referred to as "The Joker of the chess board."

In those early games I did know more about the use of the knight compared to most of my opponents, which caused my ego to grow beyond my ability to control it.  Now I have a large collection of loses to keep my ego where it belongs.