ChessWoodie

ChessWoodie is a free indie chess training app built around the Woodpecker Method, the repetition-based tactical training system popularized by GM Axel Smith and GM Hans Tikkanen. Instead of solving endless new puzzles, you repeat the same set over multiple cycles to build faster pattern recognition.

The app handles everything that makes the Woodpecker Method tedious to implement manually: tracking your cycles, monitoring accuracy, and measuring speed automatically so you can focus entirely on solving. As you repeat cycles, your solving speed (puzzles per minute) typically improves before raw accuracy peaks, which signals your tactical intuition building up.

Training Insights break down your recent attempts by tactical motif (forks, pins, mates, and more), helping you identify which patterns come naturally and which need more work. The clean UI keeps distractions minimal.

ChessWoodie is completely free with no premium tier. For players who want a lightweight, no-nonsense implementation of the Woodpecker Method without the overhead of a full training platform, it delivers exactly that.