What it teaches
Swedish grandmasters Axel Smith and Hans Tikkanen turned a training routine into a book. The Woodpecker Method is simple to explain and hard to do: take a large set of tactical exercises, solve all of them, then solve the same set again in less time, and keep repeating the cycle until you can see the solutions almost instantly. Tikkanen credits the approach with helping him reach the grandmaster title.
The book supplies the exercises, over a thousand of them in easy, intermediate and advanced sections, many taken from games of strong players, plus a clear plan for how to run the cycles. The idea is not to calculate better but to recognize faster, so that in a real game the tactic jumps out at you.
Who it's for
Committed tournament players, roughly 1600 and up, preparing for a specific event. The advanced exercises are genuinely hard, and the method takes serious time. Casual players will get more from lighter puzzle books first.
How to get the most from it
Follow the authors' schedule and start the cycles a few weeks before an important tournament. Keep a log of your times and errors. Solve on the page, but set up the positions you miss on a board.
Key takeaways
- Repetition of the same exercises turns calculation into instant recognition.
- Each cycle should take less time than the one before.
- The method works best as focused preparation before a tournament.
- Tracking your times and errors shows exactly where you're improving.
Read next
Build calculation skills alongside it with Think Like a Grandmaster, or add theme-based depth with Sharpen Your Tactics!
