Deliberate practice and natural talent are not mutually exclusive. I make a living as a regionally successful chess teacher. I have had many highly talented students who were not hard workers. I have had many hard working students who were not naturally very talented. Both turned out to be pretty good. Sadly for blank slatists, the talent seems to mean more, but "pretty good" isn't exceptional. I had one student who was a hard working genius who did deliberate practice and took four or five hours of lessons with me a week. He won a national championship for first grade.

Practice matters. Especially at the upper level. There are hordes of talented "strong casuals" out there.