The Woodpecker Method 2

initial thought was that it should contain positional rather than tactical exercises. I soon realized that it

was likely to be a harder and more time-consuming project than the first volume.

Despite a part of me really wanting to be involved in The Woodpecker Method 2, I decided for

practical reasons that it was better not to involve myself. I think everyone involved is thankful for that

– the fact that it took me months just to write this short preface is an indication of how severely

delayed the book might have been!

Having read Axel’s preface and looked through some of the exercises and solutions, I can see that a

tremendous amount of work has been done to provide both the quality and quantity of exercises that

were required. The content of this Woodpecker sequel is fully in keeping with what I envisaged years

ago, when the idea was first discussed.

Just as the original book is a good complement to other types of tactical books – for instance, those

with lots of explanatory text, and/or complex, hard-to-calculate variations – I believe and hope that

this one will be a great companion to other types of books on positional chess. Best of luck to all the

hard-working chess students at the start of this journey – and also to all us

not-so-hard-working chess enjoyers!