EP.225 - GM Axel Smith

This week I am joined by one of my favorite modern authors, Grandmaster Axel Smith. Axel is a two-time Swedish Chess Olympiad member, who is probably best known for co-authoring the 2017 book, The Woodpecker Method with his fellow Grandmaster, Hans Tikkanen. Axel has written a few other books, which are excellent guides for more advanced players. They are Pump Up Your Rating, e3 Poison, and his latest offering from Quality Chess, Street Smart Chess. In our interview we discuss all of these books, and touch on topics like the origins of The Woodpecker Method, Axel’s own experience with using spaced repetition, and his improvement advice for ambitious club players. There are lots of useful nuggets in our conversation, so I hope you will enjoy it. Please read on for more details, timestamps, and relevant links.   0:00- We begin by discussing what is probably GM Axel Smith’s most popular book, the famed The Woodpecker Method, which he co-wrote with GM Hans Tikkanen. The book is available from Amazon and is very popular on Chessable.  Mentioned: Book Recap #6 discussing Woodpecker Method with Neal Bruce,  Episode 187 with Christopher Chabris, Episode 216 with Dr. Jana Krivec  15:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check out their latest offerings here:  New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels in all - Chessable.com 16:00- In Pump Up Your Rating, Axel listed the 4 key components of chess improvement: “ (1) analyzing your games and making a ‘list of mistakes;” (2) using a De la Maza-esque program to study tactics; (3) doing serious opening work via the creation of ‘opening files’ in ChessBase; and (4) mastering approximately 100 key theoretical endgames.”  Does he still think this is the best approach?   Mentioned: 100 Endgames You Must Know    20:45- In e3 Poison, Axel mentioned that we may be entering a post theoretical era- what does he mean by that?  Mentioned: GM Anish Giri    24:30- What players does Axel look up to? Mentioned: GM Stellan Brynell, GM Ulf And