The Course Woodpecker

Hi forum people!

I am hunting for the course described in the Pros section Item #2 "Great organization: the course is set-up in 5 parts"  Review here: https://www.chess.com/blog/SheldonOfOsaka/the-woodpecker-method-a-review

It says it is from ChessDotCom but I went through puzzles and I find no such course.  I've searched forums for hours ... and there are topics going back to 2014 about Woodpecker but so far it all pertains to books.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I know Chess.com has done this course because of this reference and surely, since it would be so similar to puzzles, it must already exist as a type of course puzzle, no?  Am I blind?  Well, yes ... but am I blind?  

I use the site chesspeckerdotcom.

Free to join. Easy to setup. You can set your rating range. I'm currently doing 1000 over 6 weeks.

Per my chess coach. You want to choose a rating range that will give you around a 70-75% pass rate. Pick a rating and do around 25-50 and see what your percentage is. Adjust accordingly until you're in that 70-75% pass rate.

I've completed a tactics on BLOCKING and I only got 25% right. I have a long way to go but it is a labor of love for sure! Your suggestion has been noted. Thanks, Mike!

EDITED: This was on ChessTempo though.

Choose whatever site works best for you.

All of them. :-) Every chess site, article, video ... all of them. :-)

ADDED: I don't think ChessTempo has this type of rapid repeat application, if I understand the process (and I'm sure I don't). But, as you say, I'm trying them all on. It is the specific technique used by the Masters that I want to repeat so ChessPecker it is then for this Goal item!

ADDED: And I'll be on Lichess for tactics training as well.

Chesspecker tracks each and every cycle. I'm doing 1000 over 6 weeks. That works out to 25 tactics a day. I had always heard about the woodpecker method but never took chess seriously enough to try it. It's going to be interesting when I get to cycle 2 and it's do 1000 in 3 weeks, and then 10 days and then 5 days, etc.

This looks good

@LieutenantFrankColumbo

For chesspecker, what would be my rating then, if I may ask? I almost posted a forum question but this is precisely WHY I even care about ratings so here seems the best place. I'm 1000 Daily and mid 600 for Rapid.

I like to pretend I'm a 1000 to feel better about myself but that doesn't make a difference in the real world and doesn't help me answer question of my rating.

Thxz everyone for your contribution to this thread.

AS I posted earlier. You need to pick a rating range and play through some tactics until you are getting a 70-75% pass rate. I did 25 at 1600 and had a pass rate of something like 80+%. So I sent to 1700 and did 25 more and was still at a pass rate of something like 80%. So I went to 1800, did 25 and got a pass rate of 75% which is right in the sweet spot.

Remove ego from the equation. Remove what you "think" you are. Find a rating range that will land you at 70-75% pass rate. If youre more concerned about ego, then just stay here and post how many brilliant moves you got. You wont improve, but you be "happy".

There is another version of chessPecker based upon chessPecker.org with a few more options:

Good thread. LieutenantFrankColumbo's cycle progression is pretty standard for the method. The 6 weeks to 3 weeks to 10 days to 5 days timeline is similar to what Smith and Tikkanen recommend in the original book.

isolani-d4, 25% accuracy on your first pass is actually not terrible if you are working at the right difficulty. The whole point is that you learn from the mistakes and see massive improvements on subsequent cycles. If you were hitting 90% on cycle one, the puzzles would be too easy to create real pattern growth.

I started with ChessPecker too but eventually moved to Disco Chess for my woodpecker training. It's free and shows you which tactical motifs you're weakest on, which helps focus your training. Missed problems stay in rotation so you actually drill your weak spots. My Lichess rapid went up significantly over few months of training.

ChessTempo and Lichess are great for general tactics, but they are not really designed for the repetition cycling that makes the Woodpecker Method work. Having dedicated cycle tracking makes a real difference when you are trying to push through thousands of puzzles multiple times.

Keep at it. The first cycle is always the hardest.

How free is it? I see it has a Premium option which "Removes all limits, unlimited hearts, 1000 set puzzles" etc...

Is the free tier useful?

I'd say so. You mostly get access to all the features on the free tier, except the hearts-based system kicks in if you make too many mistakes, forcing you to take a break. I guess the only difference is the theme-based puzzle sets content - you get access to larger sets (1k puzzles), but i think the smaller puzzle sets are more than enough for the woodpecker method.

I've been on the free tier for a week now. Well, you get Premium for free for a week. Today was my 8th day and I was only able to solve 16 puzzles. It offered to show me an ad and I tried to get that to work but it didn't.

So I have a 5 hour cooldown. I guess they gotta money somehow...