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. Mentioned: Book Recap #6 discussing Woodpecker Method with Neal Bruce,  Episode 187 with Christopher Chabris, Episode 216 with Dr. Jana Krivec New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels in all - Chessable.comDoes he still think this is the best approach? Mentioned: 100 Endgames You Must Know  Mentioned: GM Anish Giri  Mentioned: GM Stellan Brynell, GM Ulf Andersson, YouTube Video- Play Like Ulf Andersson -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDo--EPHnfc Mentioned: Forward Chess, Street Smart Chess, Free book excerpt from Quality Chess here:http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/StreetSmartChess-excerpt.pdfGM David Navara, GM Aryan Tari, GM Baskaran Adhiban, GM Laurent Fressinet,GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Magnus Carlsen, My Chess World, The Secret Ingredient by Jan Markos and GM David Navara   Mentioned: Learn from the Legends, Move First Think Later, On the Origin of the Good Moves   http://www.schackstudion.se/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices