The Woodpecker method: what it is, how to do it, and an app that does the counting

What the Woodpecker method is

The method comes from the book The Woodpecker Method by Axel Smith and Hans Tikkanen. Its idea is simple: you do not get better at spotting tactics by solving thousands of new puzzles once, but by solving the same set many times, until the patterns stop needing calculation.

The book is built around a set of positions and a series of cycles. In each cycle you solve the whole set, and each cycle has to be done in less time than the one before.

The seven cycles

This is the schedule Chess Coach follows. The time you have for each cycle halves, roughly, until the last ones fit into a single day.

How to do it

1. Pick one set and stay with it. Changing positions halfway defeats the method: the point is to see the same ones again.
2. Solve every position in the cycle. Decide the move, then check. Do not skip the ones you find easy; the speed comes from them.
3. Take a day off between cycles. The rest is part of the method, not a reward.
4. Go again, in half the time. The positions you missed are the ones worth the most attention.

How Chess Coach runs it for you

In the Calculation Lab, Practice is the Woodpecker method with the bookkeeping done:

• Two sets of 150 positions, one from the opening and one from the middlegame, chosen and checked with an engine.
• Four arrows, one best move. Each position shows four candidate moves: the best one, two believable ones that lose ground and one clear mistake. You pick one, then play the line that follows, five moves deep.
• The cycles are kept for you: which day of which cycle you are on, your time and how many you solved.
• Misses come back. A position you got wrong, or solved with a hint, comes back the next day, then at growing intervals until you get it right.

What is free

The first ten positions of each set are free, so you can try the method before deciding. The full sets and their cycles are part of Premium.

Questions

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