Knight takes a pawn. Chess lessons come in Duolingo
“Hola, Ajedrez” means “Hi, chess” in Spanish. You have always been able to learn Spanish DuolingoAnd soon you will be able to learn and practice chess in the language training application. Duolingo has announced on Tuesday that beta testers can practice the age -old board game in Duolingo now, while others will be able to learn the game in the application in a few months.
Duolingo chess lessons aim to be friendly to beginners
I spoke with a Duolingo representative about the upcoming lessons. They said they wanted to continue to expand what people could learn through the application, and chess was an early contender.
“(Chess is) One of those things that … every age group can be learned … but then something that takes the 10,000-hour theory to really master.” Edwin BodgeSenior Product Manager at Duolingo, he said. “We thought it would fit very well with Duolingo Medium.”
When I asked why people would use Duolingo on other chess training sites and tools, Bodge said that many other chess content was aimed at advanced users, not newcomers.
“We really saw a great opportunity to try and take care of more than a beginner, average (player) and try to increase access to the game,” he said.
Chess lessons are slightly different than others that you can find in Duolingo as Spanish and mathematical, but the progression system is similar. And from what Duolongo showed me, the lessons really start a square – or in A1 on a chessboardS
You will learn how pieces, tactics and more are moving.
Chess lessons should feel similar to other Duolingo lessons
When you start, Duolingo asks how much you already know about chess – like in other lessons in the application. Duolingo will then adjust the lessons according to your answer.
If you say you are brand new to chess and do not know the game, early lessons will focus on how each piece moves before you go to capture other pieces and check the king. Other lessons are similar to Mini-Puzzles, where you can be asked to capture different pieces using one piece like your knight or rook, in four moves or less.
You can access hints for each lesson, but if you get something wrong, your opponent will react to show you that you have left a piece open for capture, like in a real match. And if you continue to get something wrong, Duolingo will show you what to do.
“If you confuse it repeatedly, we will eventually show you an arrow that shows you exactly where to move,” says Sami Seagel, a software engineer with Duolingo.
Chess progression is similar to other Duolingo lessons, so it must be known to others who have used the application before.
If you are subscribed to Duolingo max And make a mistake in a language lesson, the application can explain the mistake – and what is the right solution – with a feature called explain my answer. However, this feature will not be available to chess lessons so far. It is not always easy to explain why something is right or wrong in chess because there are so many millions of different movements.
“We want to improve with more complete explanations,” Seagel said. “There is some combination of AI and training for models that we hope to use to explain better why a certain move is wrong.”
Since there are so many chess movements, it is possible to make movements that could be correct, but not the best options. In such cases, Duolingo will show a banner that allows you to know that the move is not wrong, but not necessarily the best move.
Duolingo also said that each section represents a range of Elo rating system – The method by which the chess skills are calculated. As your lessons progress, it will be more difficult and more challenging. This is similar to Cephr The language proficiency levels attached to the various language sections of the application.
You will also have the opportunity to have “mini-mutch” or full games against Duolingo shaft, Oscar. These matches will also scathing in the difficulty of challenging you, so you do not encounter a basmatir chess player after your first week of play. But that doesn’t mean you can relax and play carelessly. If you make a mistake by leaving your queen open to shoot, Oscar will take advantage and let you move to recover.
While playing Oscar is a good practice, you will not be able to face other players when these chess lessons start. But Duolnging said that matches against other people are something they are looking for, so you may be able to play against a friend over the app in the future.
“One of the big reasons we do this, we think we can get a whole generation of people who are interested in chess,” Boj said.
Duolingo chess lessons are already in a beta version and will begin to unfold on iOS in English around mid -May. Duolingo said it works to bring these Android devices and more languages ​​in the coming months.
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