Work · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Chesskool – Platform for Chess Improvement
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?
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Chesskool – Platform for Chess Improvement launched in 2022; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1IM
The idea is actually quite simple. As a Japanese learner and a coder, I've always wanted there to be an open-source, 100% free for learning Japanese, similar to Monkeytype in the typing community. Unfortunately, pretty much all language learning apps are closed-sourced and paid these days, and the ones that are free have unfortunately been abandoned. But of course, just creating yet another language learning app was not enough - there has to be a unique selling point. And then I thought to myself: why not make it crazy and do what no other language learning app ever did by adding a gazillion…
2025 · kanadojo.com · its alternatives →
- 2
I made a chess engine today, and made it fit within 2KB. I used a variant of MinMax called Negamax, with alpha beta pruning. For the board representation I have used a 120-cell "mailbox". I managed to squeeze in checkmate/stalemate in there, after trimming out some edge cases. I am a great fan of demoscene (computer art subculture) since middle school, and hence it was a ritual i had to perform. For estimating the Elo, I measured 240 automated games against Stockfish Elo levels (1320 to 1600) under fixed depth-5 and some constrained rules, using equal color distribution. Then converted…
Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Hi Everyone, I recently wanted to learn Japanese with duolingo but it kept giving me repetitive lessons. So I built an app that gives a variety of lessons from anime. You can try it out here:https://kanjieight.vercel.app/ Thanks everyone.
Nov 2025 · kanjieight.vercel.app · its alternatives →
- 4
Spicy Chess▲76Hello! I created SpicyChess(https://spicychess.com) because I wanted a tactics training app that would have the following features: - Spaced Repetition. - Countdown time to simulate blitz Chess where you have to find the best move quickly. - The ability to save puzzles for later review. I'd love to hear any feedback that you may have !
2023 · spicychess.com · its alternatives →
- 5
I initially released this as just an IOS app. Since then it has been growing steadily but a lot of people have emailed asking for a web / android version. It took me nearly 2 months to build a version for the web. The nice thing about using Convex as my backend is that all the data is always synced between the app and web. I do not have to setup any syncing logic. The moment you change something in the app, it will reflect on the web version in realtime. I know there are loads of these kind of tools online but it's starting to feel like mine is actually starting to differentiate itself…
2025 · three-cells.com · its alternatives →
- 6
Hello, This is something I've wanted to build for awhile (first bought the domain in 2020 (then lost it for a year+)). It's a tactics solver on each new tab page. There are 5 modes of play: Easy (<1200 elo) Medium (1200-1800) Hard (1800-2400) Expert (2400+) Speedrun (solve as many puzzles as possible in 60 seconds). I'm having a ton of fun with it, and definitely noticing improvements with actual games (definitely solved the most puzzles in my life while developing this extension). If you check it out, please let me know what you think. Any feedback is good!
Apr 2026 · leetchess.com · its alternatives →
- 7
LearnChess▲29I've been playing chess for a few years with my ELO stuck around 1600 on Lichess. I wanted an app that combined puzzle training, interactive lessons, game analysis, and AI coaching in one place. But all the apps I used over the years either felt overwhelming, had UX that wasn't up to my expectations for a modern app or were lacking some fundamental features that I really wanted. So, I built LearnChess.ai. The technical angle I'm most excited about: it's built local-first using LiveStore (event-sourced, SQLite on-device), which means zero loading delays for user data and full offline support.…
Jul 2026 · learnchess.ai · its alternatives →
- 8
Hey everyone! I’ve been learning the Russian language on and off for over 15 years now. I took classes in college, and of course continued my education through apps like Duolingo. I started learning the language because one of my closest friends growing up was Russian, and I thought it would be cool to be able to speak with him in his language. Of all the ways I’ve learned the language, not one of them focused on the modern way we communicate: through text. I decided to make this app to create a text-first language learning experience --mostly so I could keep up with my friends’ groupchat.…
2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 9IB
Hi HN, here is my humble weekend project. I couldn’t find any similar utilities online that would let me download all of my chess games, so I decided to make one. It’s definitely imperfect, so please let me know if you have any feedback!
2023 · chessgamedownloader.fly.dev · its alternatives →
- 10AL
Hello HN, For a few months I'm been working on a fun side-project to port the (awesome) chessboardjs library to an easily reusable and embeddable web component. The quarantine has finally spurred me to put the finishing touches on it. https://justinfagnani.github.io/chessboard-element/ It works in plain HTML files just by writing an HTML tag: And it works in any framework because it's just an HTML element. Styling is encapsulated and customizable with CSS properties and parts: chess-board { --dark-color: darkmagenta; } /* Highlight the e2 square in red */…
2020 · its alternatives →
- 11
Free chess trainers for the parts of chess that aren
2021 · chessmadra.com · its alternatives →
- 12
- 13
I built this because I got tired of Stockfish giving me evaluations (+0.5) without explaining the actual plan. Most opening explorers focus on statistics (Win/Loss/Draw). I wanted a tool that explains the strategic intent behind the moves (e.g., "White plays c4 to clamp down on d5" vs just "White plays c4"). The Project: Comprehensive Database: I’ve mapped and annotated over 3,500 named opening variations. It covers everything from main lines (Ruy Lopez, Sicilian) to deep sidelines. Strategic Visualization: The UI highlights key squares and draws arrows based on the textual…
Jan 2026 · atlaschess.me · its alternatives →
- 14
Hello everyone! I've finally finished my latest side project - a RPG game made in Blazor. It started as a small project to learn some Blazor (I'm .NET dev but kept mainly to backend and ASP.NET). I had such a good time coding it that at some point I decided to make a full featured game out of it. I might've have bitten off more that I could chew as RPGs have so many systems and elements but overall I think it worked out well, especially for a single person project. I want to hop on the next project soon so any comments/questions/tips than can make me better really appreciated!
2024 · whimsicalwyrm.itch.io · its alternatives →
- 15
Hey HN, I'm Damiano Rodriguez, and I've been working solo on a project called Caisual Games. It's a free platform where anyone can create web games just by describing them with their voice. Here's how it works: You simply describe your game idea ("Make a cookie clicker game with 5 upgrades"), and the platform generates a playable web game in seconds using HTML and JavaScript. There's no coding required and no downloads needed—you can create and play directly in your browser. What's more, anyone can improve a published game, fostering a collaborative environment for game creation. The…
2024 · caisual.com · its alternatives →
- 16
Bürolingo▲10Duolingo-style lessons for surviving German paperwork.
Jan 2026 · burolingo.de · its alternatives →
- 17IF
So, after many years of kicking about little apps and not putting the full effort in, I decided to bite the bullet and get on with it. Very much inspired by patio11 and Bingo Card Creator, I present Griddol (http://www.griddol.com) a tool to create and play word searches. Intended mainly for teachers, but encouraging those who like a word search too. This been churning around in my head for over a year in various forms, and I used the concept to help learn CoffeeScript, CouchDB and node.js, so even if the product itself is a failure, the learning process has been valuable. I'll be the first…
2011 · griddol.com · its alternatives →
- 18
A minimal "@ moving around a hardcoded map" implemented in a bunch of languages, some by me and some contributed by others. A slightly more interesting riff on the Hello World or 99 Bottles of Beer theme. More languages or improvements on existing ones would be nice :) There's a github repo at: https://github.com/nrkn/SimpleRL
2011 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 192M
Made this to try out o1-preview, took ~40 prompts and 3 hours in total, with a fairly solid backed written in Go. Works pretty badly in Firefox apparently due to canvas-canvas copies being really slow, Chrome works great tho. Doesn't work well on mobile yet, and has some other minor issues, but overall it feels incredible to put together something like this so quickly.
2024 · chess280.com · its alternatives →
- 20
- 21RC
Hi HN, We’ve just launched v1 of Respeakable, an AI-enhanced language tutor. We have two German lessons (Level A2, beginner to complete beginner) designed by a language-teacher friend of ours – feel free to try it out and give any feedback. We (lschneider and I) have been experimenting with learning languages (specifically French) using different vocabulary apps and tools. The issue is that apps like Duolingo are after your attention (their motto is “test everything”) rather than teaching you a language and are therefore hyper gamified and too easy – all about hijacking your dopamine system.…
2024 · respeakable.com · its alternatives →
- 22IB
Hi HN, I have been working on a new tool that was inspired by Vannevar Bush's memex and Luhmann's Zettelkasten. Having been a long time user of different tools, I got to the point where I decided to build my own. For the longest time I have been looking for something that puts association first, works as fast as the mind, and allows you to stay in flow state. Making building a second mind, playful and rewarding. If anyone is interested, I have added the link below. At this point I am slowly letting on the first users, and hoping to gather as much feedback as possible. The explore link on the…
2020 · its alternatives →
- 23IB
It's like a mix between Picross (Nonograms) and Polyominoes. It's a minimalist puzzler which has no text, no tutorials (none required) and no ads set in a relaxing environment. App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/shapeuku-shape-puzzle-game/i... Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dtbgames.s... I have a bulk load of Android promo codes to give away, so if you'd like one let me know! (Sorry iOS users, I have no free codes left!)
2018 · its alternatives →
- 24IM
Hey there HN, I took a page from Wordle's mechanisms and made this game for fun for some friends and I. Check out Wheredle and let me know what you think of it! ↙ ↗ ↘ https://wheredle.xyz
2022 · wheredle.xyz · its alternatives →
Also compare
- I'm making an open-source platform for learning Japanese alternatives
- Sameshi – a ~1200 Elo chess engine that fits within 2KB alternatives
- I built the literal Duolingo Killer alternatives
- Spicy Chess alternatives
- I spent 4 months building Duolingo but for your life alternatives
- A Chrome extension that gives you chess tactics on new tab pages alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →