Noctie — Practice chess with a genius owl

Hey PH community 👋 Any aspiring chess players here? ♟️ I’m Samuel, chess player and maker of Noctie, which we’re excited to launch here today! As a kid, I had no one to play chess against or learn from. I wanted one of those physical chess computers that I saw in magazines. When I finally got hold of some chess software I quickly realised playing against computers is no fun 🤖 Twenty-five years later, and frustrated from my slow chess improvement using traditional means, I saw the opportunity to change this. I built a chess AI as a practice partner and tutor. One that plays just like a human at my own level, but also knows how stronger players play, so that it can give me feedback on how to improve 🚀 I think a lot about learning. I think the best way to learn almost anything is 1-on-1 tutoring. To learn effectively, we need practice and immediate feedback. But that’s hard to get from chess books and videos, and it’s even harder to get from online chess. What you need is a practice partner and teacher, someone who can offer the right level of challenge, testing your skills, and intertwine this with learning opportunities. That’s what we’ve tried to create with Noctie. Today, we’re a small team of tech and chess enthusiasts working to make Noctie into the best possible partner in your chess journey. So far, this is what we’ve accomplished: ✔️ Chess AI that accurately mimics human play from beginner to grandmaster ✔️ Instant color feedback after each move, based on humanlike intuition ✔️ Play the opening you like and learn the common responses and traps ✔️ Custom exercises after each game, based on your biggest mistakes Whether you're a beginner or experience chess player, we're excited to have more people like you try Noctie out and leave us some feedback and suggestions!

This might actually convince me to start playing. If only I had more time.. Awesome app guys, congrats!

Wow, Noctie sounds like an incredible tool for chess enthusiasts! I'm excited to give it a try and see how it can help me up my game. Congrats to the team on the launch!

I love this! Coincidently, i was actively looking for something like this. I’ll certainly be giving it a try. Congrats on the launch 🚀

Really good app. One recommendation. Colour coding helps in understanding the "type" of the move. But since this app is about "coaching", it would be great if you could "show" / "inform" players about the alternatives. Learning while playing, I believe helps retain the knowledge better.

That's it, I'm learning how to chess now. LOVE the idea of an owl as a mascot! Looking forward to seeing their avatar grow over time!

@samuel_sonning Congratulations on launching Noctie. @andrew_brogden Noctie might be something you find interesting 👀

Already downloaded! No lie - my son is a chess nut and he's going to absolutely geek out over this. Thank you for such a great product!!

Oh, I really like this idea and the app overall! It's definitely something else than the regular chess bots, etc. Makes a lot of sense. Maybe I finally will learn to play chess for real this time, haha! 😄

The instant feedback has been a game changer for me. As a chess rookie, progressing has been frustrating - but being able to practice at my own level with Noctie has made all the difference. Excited to keep moving forward. Congratulations, team Noctie! 👏🏼

I never properly learned chess. Felt embarrassing that I couldn't remember what all the pieces did. And anyone who wants to play is always way way better than me. Feels fun that I'll finally have a tutor that can meet me on my level.

Great looking app, just started playing and I’m hooked! Can easily see how this will make me a better player.

Talk about perfect timing...I've just fallen in love with chess, but I was clueless about where to begin or how to play. This is just the perfect opportunity. I'll be sure to try out this app.

I love this app! I have been playing chess since a kid, and these days I am always playing against people who keep winning over me, and I did not know how to improve my playing. Noctie has made it so simple for me to get hands-on practice, and I have already seen great results! Kudos to the guys behind Noctie!

The dynamic difficulty level is quite something, and the feedback system actually manages to make me feel like I’m improving in real time - VERY rewarding. This might turn out to be dangerously addictive 😅

Really nice AI to play against! I like the reviews as well, helps me figure out in what way I messed up my moves.

Have played chess since early 1970s. My first experience with a chess computer was when my brother bought one of the first commercially available, Fidelity's Chess Challenger. I must have played 1000s of games against it. Since then I have played a wide variety of chess engines, even including the legendary Deep Blue on ICC. Starting mid 90s the engines got so strong, it was not much point in playing them for a result anymore. I played to learn, but the way the engines were playing was not so instructive, it was more like playing an alien life form. What's really exciting about Noctie is that it is the first machine that actually feels human in its way to play. Compared to other engines which you set to play at some predefined level, it doesn't play random bad moves to simulate human play, it feels more consistent in its play. It makes it a much more interesting opponent. Well done team Noctie, I think you have something unique here!

It took around 2 min for Noctie to win :D Looks really nice! I won't become the next Grandmaster but Live Insights looks like something which definitely can help to improve. Nice work!

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Really nice app! Played a lot of chess with grandpa as a kid and this will help me to take my game to the next level. That without having to use my kid strategies on other users while learning...