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Show HN: Chesskool – Platform for Chess Improvement (chesskool.com)

5 points by gabceboli ↗ HN
Launch day is here! This has been my passion project, to recreate Duolingo for chess!

I always thought Duolingo had amazing "hooks" to help people learn new languages, so I implemented its spaced-repetition, reports and daily and weekly training reminders in a Chess learning platform for chess improvers!

I built it in Meteor.js and React.js. I chose Meteor to be able to add Cordova in the future.

The Caro-Kann course (for white) is completely free, if you guys want to try it.

What do you folks think?

6 comments

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roligras
Looks great What makes this idea different from chessable?
gabceboli
Thanks roligras!

We focus only on club-level players, so the courses are more practical than many of Chessable's.

Also, we have the virtual coach mode and progress reports (a-la-Duolingo), that adds accountability for the user.

And the users get access to all of the platform with a membership (chessable is a marketplace)!

gabceboli
Also, just created the code HNEWS (to add at checkout) for whoever wants to benefit from 50% off the PRO subscription in the next 24 hours!
dankwizard
Not a very constructive question but is it "Chess Kool" or is it supposed to be said more like "Chess School"?
gabceboli
Haha, good question! It is Chess kool, though the whole name is a play on words of cool and school!
HAL9OOO
I like the idea behind it, looking at the Caro course and a few things:

1. I wish the board was actually bigger, and the notes for each move were easier to read. On my Macbook the sidebar takes up too much space and theirs tons of free space for the board to be bigger. 2. I wish it was more convenient to go down random side lines and then return to the main line.

So mostly usability problems? The idea to make a club-level Chessable is good though, honestly I've wanted a better LiChess Study alternative, the spaced repetition is a good feature to work for but honestly I think usability/smoothness and having easy to understand/read captions for moves and why they are important is better.

If I know why certain moves are better I don't have to memorize them, or it will make it easier to memorize in the future.