Coddy is growing. Chess is here.

Today we’re launching Coddy Spaces, bringing new subjects to Coddy with the same approach that got us started: learning by doing.

The first addition is Chess. You can learn, play, and review your games right now, for free.

This is a big step for us. More than 5 million people have used Coddy to learn programming, and I’m proud of what our team has built. We’re now taking what we’ve learned from that experience and putting it into something new.

What Spaces are

A Space is a home for one subject on Coddy. It brings together courses, learning paths, references, and tools, with practice built around the subject itself.

For coding, that means writing and running code. For chess, it means working through positions and playing games.

You’ll find the new Spaces menu at the top of every page. Coding has its own Space, Chess has its own Space, and you can switch between them using the same account. Your streak and league come with you, and you can earn free certificates in each Space.

We wanted trying a new subject to be that easy.

Why we chose chess

Chess has a gap that felt familiar to us. You can know how every piece moves and still sit down at a board with no idea what to do next.

Learning to code can feel like that too. You understand the explanation, but when it’s your turn to do something, you get stuck. We built Coddy to help with that part: give you something small to try, show you what happened, and help you work through it.

With chess, we could bring that approach to the board. You make a move, see what you missed, and practice until you start noticing it yourself.

What you can do today

There’s quite a bit to explore, and I’m excited for people to get into it.

Seven courses, three learning paths. You can start with the board and the pieces, or go straight to tactics, opening principles, checkmate patterns, and king-and-pawn endgames. The lessons ask you to do things on the board: find an undefended piece, spot a threat, or work out the move that finishes a game.

Six opponents to play. Meet Pip, Sunny, Ada, Boris, Vera, and Magnus Jr., ranging from 400 to 1900. Start with Pip if you’re new and move up when you’re ready. Hints and takebacks are right under the board, so you have room to experiment.

A free review after every game. This is the part I’m especially happy with. The review picks out the moves that mattered, shows you a better move on the board, and links to a lesson that teaches the idea behind it. When you lose a piece and don’t understand why, you have somewhere to go with that.

References and tools you can use as you learn. Explore openings move by move, look up a rule or tactic on an interactive board, practice with the notation trainer, or try the opening explorer and Elo calculator.

The chess lessons, games, and reviews are free and run in your browser. There’s nothing to install. You don’t need an account to play. The review uses a free account so your progress can carry into the lessons.

Where we’re going with this

Building Spaces has made the next stage of Coddy feel much more real to me.

We’ve spent years working on how to make coding easier to get into and easier to keep practicing. Now we get to ask how we can do that for other subjects, each with its own lessons and tools.

Chess is our first addition. You can also take an early look at Algebra, which is already in beta, and we have more on the way.

I’m proud of the team for getting this out into the world. There’s a lot here, from the first lesson on setting up a board to the review after your first game. I’m excited to see what you think once you’ve had a chance to try it.

And to everyone who has been learning with us, thank you. It means a lot that Coddy has become part of your day. I hope this gives you another reason to open it.

If there’s a subject you’d like us to teach, tell us. We’re reading every reply.

For now, go play a game. Start with Pip and see what the review says.