The woodpecker method

thanks !

Sometimes the word "woodpecker" is used in bawdy ways.   

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7838.pdf

Can you elaborate on woodpecker method? I've not heard of it.  Author?

Also what do you mean by 7circkes?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+the+woodpecker+method

Axel Smith & Hans Tikkanen

"... Rapid Chess Improvement by Michael de la Maza … In order to improve tactical ability, the author recommends a training program … which has three main elements: … 2) The 'Seven Circles'. This involves going through a set of 1000 tactical problems seven times. …" - GM John Nunn (2006)

I think in both the woodpecker method and 7 circles, you are supposed to do a lot of tactics problems.  Tikkanen, Smith and De la Maza before his book all played an immense number of games at classical time controls in over the board tournaments, so that probably helped them as well.

The main difference between Seven Circles and the Woodpecker Method is in how they structure the repetition. Seven Circles uses increasing time limits per puzzle as you progress through cycles, starting fast and ending with more time for calculation. The Woodpecker Method does the opposite: you start with unlimited time on cycle one, then compress each subsequent cycle until you can recognize patterns almost instantly.

Both methods rely on the same core principle that repeated exposure to the same tactical positions builds pattern recognition. The question is whether you want to build speed first (Seven Circles) or accuracy first (Woodpecker).

One key distinction: GM John Nunn criticized de la Maza's original Seven Circles for recommending 1000 problems without actually providing them — readers had to buy separate software. The Woodpecker Method (2019) fixed this by including all 1128 exercises in the book itself.

In my experience, the Woodpecker approach (explainer) of starting slow and getting faster feels more natural. You learn the patterns correctly before trying to recognize them quickly. The challenge is tracking your times across cycles, which is tedious with a physical book.

Several apps handle the tracking now. ChessTempo, Chessable (has the original book content), Disco Chess, and ChessPecker all support cycling through fixed puzzle sets. Disco Chess is free and you can see your speed improving across cycles in the performance data.