What does it mean to study chess.

I am new to chess and was wondering what exactly do people mean when they say "study".

They mean to do something that actively engages your brain. It does most people little good to listen to hour after hour of videos if their brains are not actively engaged in assessing the knowledge provided by the instructor.

Private tutors are good because they can question the students periodically to see if any of the material is sinking in.

However, most people can't afford a private tutor to teach us the basics of the game. We have to learn from the lessons set out in books, articles, videos and other courses by strong players.

Traditionally, those were in books and articles. More recently, interactive lessons have become available on the computer. Some of the good ones are interactive.

Yeah opinions on this one will vary a little... Everybody would consider doing a chessable course or chess.com lesson, looking at opening lines or reading a chess book to be study. But some people would exclude chess videos, tactics training or puzzles from the definition and consider those to be more recreational/casual in nature.

When it comes to improving at chess, you need to do what's called 'deliberate practice'. It's not defined by the materials or methods you use, it just requires that you focus on material which is slightly out of your comfort zone and monitor your weaknesses. Imho beginners in particular put way too much emphasis on 'study', accumulating book knowledge they're going to struggle to apply because they haven't actually played enough games attentively to get a solid foundation they can build on.

For example, for me it was possible to reach 1500 very quickly without any of the above types of study, literally all I did was play slow rapid games (up to half an hour), make mental notes every time I realised I made a mistake (e.g. ignored the opponent's threat/blundered a piece/didn't see a bishop/got hit with a discovered attack etc) and go through them afterwards move by move to identify what I should have done.

That was deliberate practice- it pushed me to think hard to play good moves, so that itself was out of my comfort zone, and by monitoring my weaknesses I became more diligent and learned the patterns I needed.

Some people are going to say that play + analysis doesn't count as actual study, but it makes you better at beating your opponents. Supplementing with learning specifics from courses/books such as positional concepts, structures, middlegame ideas, more advanced tactics etc can be very helpful, giving names to things you already learned and providing valuable suggestions for how to improve aspects of your game. But that kind of study can wait until players are at least 1300.

"playing, observation"

It's actually not like the study you do in school. You move at your own pace,and just try to grasp the concepts and try to apply them on the board

Probably should answer your why first

I had this same question. Maybe because I was never good at "studying" in school. One can get philosophical into this topic. What is "to study"? Is it the same as memorizing? Does an 800-rated player benefit from memorizing openings to know the best moves to win easier most matches? Of course.

However, studying is much more than that. Studying is making your brain understand the connection between things. I sometimes look at Game Analysis on the app and I'm like "oh yeah I can see why that is a better move now" but studying means remembering that when it happens again.

So in a way, to study is better defined by the goal than the meaning. The goal is to know more. Whether it's through memorization or something else (method,) is up to you.

I never had a chess tutor but I would guess they can help you with different methodologies for studying. And at certain level (1600+?) books become easy enough to follow mentally.