Mistake Review
When you get a puzzle wrong, that's your biggest opportunity for improvement. Mistake Review uses spaced repetition to ensure you see those puzzles again at optimal intervals until you truly master them.
The Problem with Mistakes
The Woodpecker Method is powerful for building pattern recognition. But in a typical cycle, you might miss 10-30% of puzzles. Those are exactly the patterns your brain hasn't locked in yet.
Without a system, those missed puzzles just disappear into the next cycle. You might see them again, but by then you've forgotten why you got them wrong. The same mistakes repeat.
How Mistake Review Works
When you get a puzzle wrong in any puzzle set, it's immediately added to your Mistake Review queue. From there, it follows a 5-level progression:
Level 1: 1 day
Just added. You'll see it again tomorrow.
Level 2: 3 days
Got it right once. Building the pattern.
Level 3: 7 days
Halfway to mastery.
Level 4: 14 days
Almost there.
Level 5: 30 days
Final test. Solve correctly to master forever.
Solve correctly
Advance to the next level with a longer interval.
Get it wrong
Reset to Level 1 and try again tomorrow.
Why These Specific Intervals?
The 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30-day intervals aren't arbitrary. They're based on decades of research into the "spacing effect," which shows that reviewing at increasing intervals produces significantly better long-term retention than massed practice.
You're not grinding the same puzzle every day. You're reviewing it exactly when your brain needs the reinforcement, just before you'd forget it.
Want to learn more about the science?
Read our in-depth guide on Spaced Repetition for Chess to understand the forgetting curve, the research behind optimal intervals, and why this technique is so effective for pattern retention.
Woodpecker + Anki = Complete Training
Disco Chess gives you the best of both worlds:
Woodpecker Method Cycles
Build speed and pattern recognition across entire puzzle sets. Massed practice builds automatic recognition.
Learn more →Anki-Style Mistake Review
Target your actual weaknesses with spaced repetition. Locks patterns into long-term memory.
Frequently Asked Questions
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