THE WOODPECKER METHOD: A REVIEW

Hello, my fellow Woodpeckers; and welcome to another edition of the Osaka Papers. A wise man once said "Chess is 99% Tactics.", I'm not sure if this is true or even mathematically possible, but certainly tactics are important in the game of Chess.

Yet, how does one improve? How do we find this elusive talent to see what our opponent doesn't? There are many resources that purport to teach tactics, from the classic book Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess to ChessDotCom's Puzzle Rush we have a plethora of different ways to improve our tactical abilities.

The Woodpecker Method is the self-proclaimed ultimate guide for improvers, but does it measure up to this bold claim?

First, what is the method?

In the spring of 2010 then International Master Hans Tikkanen invented the method. Shortly after he skyrocketed in rating and gained 3 GM norms.

His Method consists of solving over 1,100 tactical positions from the games of Chess World Champions over the course of 1 month, then solving those same tactics this time over only 2 weeks, the process is halved again and again until 7 cycles have been completed, chipping away at the course like...a Woodpecker, if you will...

At which point the student will have gone insane, or become a tactical genius.  The book claims that these tactical patterns will be burned into your subconscious, leading to improved speed and accuracy.

What are the Pros and Cons of this system?

PROS:

1. It Works: Yes, it works. I can attest to the fact that my tactical vision has improved. I recently passed 3000 on the ChessDotCom puzzle app, and I believe the Woodpecker method had a lot to do with that.

2. Great organization: the course is set-up in 5 parts. The first consists of about 250 easy tactics, the second through forth parts are intermediate tactics, which each have about 250 tactics, the fifth part is the advanced section, which includes about 150 tactics, only norm seeking masters or masochists should consider attempting this section. The structure allows the student to choose how many tactics they want to solve over the 2 month course, and it makes it accessible to all levels.

3. History: I found it fascinating to learn the story behind the tactics, for me it is more interesting to solve a tactic with a story and name behind it. Moreover, perhaps this will allow you to more easily remember the tactic.

CONS:

1. Time Consuming: I opted to do the first 4 sections, that's about 975 tactics, perhaps this was a mistake... In the second month of the course I had little time for anything other than solving puzzles.

2. Frustrating: These tactics are difficult and when you do the same tactics over and over and still get them wrong the Rage is unbelievable; my neighbor actually called me once to check and see if I was OK, as she could hear me screaming in my apartment. You have been warned, you might end up breaking some furniture.

3. Puzzle vs Game: Solving puzzles is one thing, doing it in a game another. Yes, my puzzle rating has gone up, but my improvement in actual games hasn't been as dramatic, moreover, I don't think I have gotten faster, it still takes me a long time to calculate through complicated positions.

Here are a few tactics to show you exactly what I'm talking about. As, I said, some of them are truly difficult, you have to remember that these were played by a World Champion against other top Masters, so if you can't find the answer scroll down; after each tactic I have written a hint to take you through my thought process, that should make it a lot easier.

This is taken from the easy section.

HINT: Black's King has very few squares, the back rank is covered by the Rook and the g6 square is covered by the pawn, so the King is right in the middle of a Mating Net.

These next three are taken from the Intermediate section.

HINT: White's back ranks is weaker than yours, even if you Sac your Queen White cannot take care of his weaknesses in time, the Knight helps to win back the Queen.

HINT: The Rook is stronger than the Bishop, your back rank is not as weak as it seems, as you can create a discovered check with your Rook and Bishop, don't worry about your Queen, you can always win it back with the discovered check.

And that's it, that's my review of the Woodpecker Method. It is not a magic bullet that will turn you into a tactical genius overnight, but I would definitely recommend the Woodpecker Method to anyone trying to improve their tactical vision. I would however suggest that the student not Bite off more than they can chew; I did the first four parts in 2 months, in truth it might have been a better idea if I simply did the first two or three, this would have allowed me to continue my other chess studies, instead of neglecting everything in favor of tactics.

As always, thanks for reading and feel free to share these puzzles and the method with your friends down at the Library or Bar.

Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.

Bonus:

I could not resist adding one puzzle from the advanced section. The stories goes that Steinitz's opponent just got up from the table, walked out of the playing hall and never came back!! It gladdens my heart to know that rage quitting was a thing back in the 19th century. No Hints.