Woodpecker Method Book vs Peck: Puzzles, PDF, Cost & Tracking

Choose the Woodpecker Method book for the authors’ explanation and puzzle collection. Choose Peck for free, custom Lichess puzzle sets with automatic cycle tracking and missed-puzzle review. You can use both, but the puzzles are different: Peck does not contain or import the book’s exercises.

This comparison is written by Peck, the app discussed below. Its purpose is to explain the differences so you can choose a format that fits your study habits.

What does the book include?

The Woodpecker Method is by Axel Smith and Hans Tikkanen, published by Quality Chess in 2018. The publisher’s listing describes a training system and more than 1,100 puzzles with solutions. See the publisher’s book page for formats, sample pages, and current pricing.

A printed book suits readers who want to work away from a screen. You can track your cycle times and mistakes separately in a notebook or scoresheet.

What does Peck include?

Peck is an independent browser app. It builds puzzle sets from the open Lichess puzzle database, with filters for puzzle rating and tactical theme.

You can create sets of 20–500 puzzles, choose target cycles, revisit wrong and skipped puzzles, and compare time and accuracy. An account is required to save sets and training history. The three-puzzle demo works without signing up.

A Peck set is made of positions like this one, each repeated in every cycle:

See ten more on the checkmate puzzles page, or browse puzzles by theme.

Book and app compared

Is there a free Woodpecker Method PDF?

Quality Chess offers a free, authorized PDF excerpt of The Woodpecker Method. It is a sample, not the complete book. The complete book is sold in print, as an ebook through official apps such as Forward Chess, and as a Chessable course. Unlicensed copies of the complete book are pirated.

If cost is the issue, the free route is the method, not the exercises. The repetition system works with any fixed collection of puzzles. Peck builds that collection from the open Lichess database, whose puzzles are released into the public domain. You can also export a set of Lichess puzzles as PGN and repeat them in any chess app you like.

What about Woodpecker Method 2?

The Woodpecker Method 2: Positional Play, by Axel Smith, applies the same cycles to 1,000 positional exercises: pawn structures, piece placement, and positional rules of thumb. It suits players who already recognise common tactics and want the same automatic recognition for strategic decisions.

Peck trains tactics only, because Lichess puzzles have a single forcing solution that can be checked move by move. Positional exercises usually do not.

Which format fits your training?

Choose the book if you want the original instructional text, its particular exercises, and paper-based study. Choose Peck if your priority is building your own themed sets and recording repetitions without a separate scoresheet.

Using both can make sense: read the book to understand the approach, then apply those ideas to a separate Lichess set in Peck. Completing a Peck cycle does not record progress through the book.

What should a beginner choose?

Begin with positions you can calculate and explain. The app can make set size and difficulty easier to adjust, but it is not a substitute for learning how pieces move, identifying threats, or checking the opponent’s replies.

Try a small set before committing to a large training schedule. Our five-cycle training plan explains how to review errors and compare speed with accuracy. Neither format guarantees a rating gain.

Start with the method, then choose your set

Read the Woodpecker Method guide, explore Peck’s features, or follow the first-set instructions. You can try three free puzzles before creating an account.