Duolingo announced Wednesday that its "unhinged" mascot Duo the Owl can now play humans in online chess.
Through a new partnership with Chess.com, Duo and his animated language-teaching colleagues operate as multilingual bots. It's part of Chess.com's effort to bring the game to more corners of the globe.
"We hope language learning will surge synonymously with chess play on Chess.com to reach even more international players,” the site's chief chess officer Danny Rensch said in a news release.
Mr. Rensch noted the size of each platform's online communities: Duolingo has 75 million monthly learners, Chess.com has 150 million members.
The integrated Duolingo bots can play users in 12 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Turkish, Korean, Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian. The Chess is played on Chess.com, not Duolingo's app.
"Duolingo learners and Chess.com's community of players are dedicated, passionate, and want to learn by doing, which is exactly how both platforms teach,” George Audi, Duolingo's global head of business development, said in the release.
Both brands are offering promotional deals throughout the month to celebrate the partnership.
Evan Robinson-Johnson: ejohnson@post-gazette.com or @sightsonwheels
First Published: November 1, 2023, 8:33 p.m.
