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The Woodpecker Method
June 22, 2018
Sometimes a chess book will come out with a title that just makes it seem the most attractive thing in the world to me – a must buy. Recent titles like this were The Double Queen’s Gambit by Bezgodov and Python Strategy by Petrosian.
Today, another title piqued my interest. Here is the book announcement:
From:
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/produ...hans_tikkanen/
The Woodpecker Method by Axel Smith & Hans Tikkanen
“The Woodpecker Method is the name given by Axel Smith to a training system developed by his compatriot and co-author Hans Tikkanen. After training with his method in 2010, Tikkanen achieved three GM norms within a seven-week period.
The quick explanation of the Woodpecker Method is that you need to solve a large number of puzzles in a row; then solve the same puzzles again and again, only faster. It’s not a lazy shortcut to success – hard work is required. But the reward can be re-programming your unconscious mind. Benefits include sharper tactical vision, fewer blunders, better play when in time trouble and improved intuition.
This book contains everything you need to carry out your own Woodpecker training. Smith and Tikkanen explain how to get the maximum benefit from the method, before presenting over 1100 puzzles and solutions, all of which have been checked and double-checked for accuracy and suitability.
GM Axel Smith is the award-winning author of Pump Up Your Rating and e3 Poison, both of which were enthusiastically received by readers and reviewers. Using the Woodpecker as part of his training, as an adult he improved from a rating of 2100 to becoming a Grandmaster.
GM Hans Tikkanen is a four-time Swedish Champion whose live rating peaked over 2600. His interest in chess-improvement methods, and how they work, led him to study for a degree in psychology.”
Expected Publication (hardcover) 1 August 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-78483-055-7
________
Excerpts from the book:
Woodpecker History
By Hans Tikkanen
“First, I decided on the general rules of the method. I would solve a set of a thousand exercises (from various puzzle books) over whatever time period it took. Once I completed the set, I would take a break and then repeat the process again and again, getting faster each time. I checked my answers against the solutions given in the back of the book, and computer-checked in cases when I did not fully buy the solution provided by the author. (The frustration I feel when an exercise does not make sense has served as a great motivator to make the solutions in this book as accurate as possible!)
Being a chess professional, I had very few commitments distracting me from working hard on the solving. Of course, solving exercises in this manner is really hard work, so most days I did not manage a full eight-hour workday; but sometimes I did. Once I reached the end of the set of 1000, I took a well-deserved break, ranging from a full day to over a week. I did no other work on chess during these rest periods, except some playing.
With each cycle of solving, I aimed to halve the total solving time for the thousand exercises from that of the previous cycle. Eventually I was able to solve all of the puzzles within a single day – though not within eight hours. Initially I intended to repeat the whole process every six weeks. Later, however, I decided that “repeat one set of 1000 exercises before a serious tournament” was more realistic.
I hardly need state that the process was a demanding one, but I had a lot of motivation – partly from pent-up frustration due to having blundered away important games, but also because I was trying out of my own method. While it was tough on me, one of the books took even more of a beating – completely falling apart from the repeated solving!”
__________
A Final Session
By Axel Smith
“Before I travelled to Hungary in December 2015 to chase my last GM norm, I solved the same broken book for the 11th and 12th times. I was determined to do something I had been dreaming of for years: completing a full set of exercises in less than 24 hours. I stayed in a basement room next to the block’s laundry and once every full hour I walked around the room. Twice my wife came with freshly-baked bread – and a chance to quit. I was close to quitting when I had a breakdown somewhere towards the end, but the 978th and last exercise finally arrived after 22 hours and 18 minutes.
There are many possible ways to do the Woodpecker. All of them come down to the same thing: working on the exercises. However, it’s easier to keep on solving if you have a plan. Hans forbade me from recommending the set-up above, for humanitarian reasons. And indeed, my first thought afterwards was “never again”.
With that being said, the last session was not only tactically beneficial – it also made it easy to stay focused during the games in Hungary. You are not locking yourself in for day and night only to ruin everything by walking around when you are supposed to think.
Furthermore, for me, the many exercises are connected to the places where I have solved them: the underground in Berlin; a night train to Bucharest; the mountains where I hiked. So those 22 hours in the basement also contained a trip around Europe.”
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebook...od-excerpt.pdf
June 22, 2018
Sometimes a chess book will come out with a title that just makes it seem the most attractive thing in the world to me – a must buy. Recent titles like this were The Double Queen’s Gambit by Bezgodov and Python Strategy by Petrosian.
Today, another title piqued my interest. Here is the book announcement:
From:
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/produ...hans_tikkanen/
The Woodpecker Method by Axel Smith & Hans Tikkanen
“The Woodpecker Method is the name given by Axel Smith to a training system developed by his compatriot and co-author Hans Tikkanen. After training with his method in 2010, Tikkanen achieved three GM norms within a seven-week period.
The quick explanation of the Woodpecker Method is that you need to solve a large number of puzzles in a row; then solve the same puzzles again and again, only faster. It’s not a lazy shortcut to success – hard work is required. But the reward can be re-programming your unconscious mind. Benefits include sharper tactical vision, fewer blunders, better play when in time trouble and improved intuition.
This book contains everything you need to carry out your own Woodpecker training. Smith and Tikkanen explain how to get the maximum benefit from the method, before presenting over 1100 puzzles and solutions, all of which have been checked and double-checked for accuracy and suitability.
GM Axel Smith is the award-winning author of Pump Up Your Rating and e3 Poison, both of which were enthusiastically received by readers and reviewers. Using the Woodpecker as part of his training, as an adult he improved from a rating of 2100 to becoming a Grandmaster.
GM Hans Tikkanen is a four-time Swedish Champion whose live rating peaked over 2600. His interest in chess-improvement methods, and how they work, led him to study for a degree in psychology.”
Expected Publication (hardcover) 1 August 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-78483-055-7
________
Excerpts from the book:
Woodpecker History
By Hans Tikkanen
“First, I decided on the general rules of the method. I would solve a set of a thousand exercises (from various puzzle books) over whatever time period it took. Once I completed the set, I would take a break and then repeat the process again and again, getting faster each time. I checked my answers against the solutions given in the back of the book, and computer-checked in cases when I did not fully buy the solution provided by the author. (The frustration I feel when an exercise does not make sense has served as a great motivator to make the solutions in this book as accurate as possible!)
Being a chess professional, I had very few commitments distracting me from working hard on the solving. Of course, solving exercises in this manner is really hard work, so most days I did not manage a full eight-hour workday; but sometimes I did. Once I reached the end of the set of 1000, I took a well-deserved break, ranging from a full day to over a week. I did no other work on chess during these rest periods, except some playing.
With each cycle of solving, I aimed to halve the total solving time for the thousand exercises from that of the previous cycle. Eventually I was able to solve all of the puzzles within a single day – though not within eight hours. Initially I intended to repeat the whole process every six weeks. Later, however, I decided that “repeat one set of 1000 exercises before a serious tournament” was more realistic.
I hardly need state that the process was a demanding one, but I had a lot of motivation – partly from pent-up frustration due to having blundered away important games, but also because I was trying out of my own method. While it was tough on me, one of the books took even more of a beating – completely falling apart from the repeated solving!”
__________
A Final Session
By Axel Smith
“Before I travelled to Hungary in December 2015 to chase my last GM norm, I solved the same broken book for the 11th and 12th times. I was determined to do something I had been dreaming of for years: completing a full set of exercises in less than 24 hours. I stayed in a basement room next to the block’s laundry and once every full hour I walked around the room. Twice my wife came with freshly-baked bread – and a chance to quit. I was close to quitting when I had a breakdown somewhere towards the end, but the 978th and last exercise finally arrived after 22 hours and 18 minutes.
There are many possible ways to do the Woodpecker. All of them come down to the same thing: working on the exercises. However, it’s easier to keep on solving if you have a plan. Hans forbade me from recommending the set-up above, for humanitarian reasons. And indeed, my first thought afterwards was “never again”.
With that being said, the last session was not only tactically beneficial – it also made it easy to stay focused during the games in Hungary. You are not locking yourself in for day and night only to ruin everything by walking around when you are supposed to think.
Furthermore, for me, the many exercises are connected to the places where I have solved them: the underground in Berlin; a night train to Bucharest; the mountains where I hiked. So those 22 hours in the basement also contained a trip around Europe.”
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebook...od-excerpt.pdf
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