Investing.com -- Shares of Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL ) climbed 6.4% Tuesday following the company’s announcement of its upcoming chess course on social media. This new addition marks the first new subject Duolingo has introduced since expanding its offerings to include math and music in 2023.
The move towards a chess course reflects Duolingo’s ongoing efforts to diversify its educational content. An analyst from DA Davidson commented on the development, stating, "We’re not particularly surprised by the move, and it shows us that Duolingo is maybe accepting its role of being more of a gamified entertainment company rather than strictly teaching courses that already exist in school." The analyst anticipates that the chess course could contribute to a 5-10% upside to the 2026 consensus Total Bookings, although a significant impact isn’t expected for 2025.
Chess enjoys a large global following, with an estimated 690M players today, based on a conservative 1% annual growth rate from the 605M players reported by a Fide and YouGov survey in 2012. Duolingo’s entry into this market pits it against established competitors such as Chess.com, which boasts around 210M registered users. Nevertheless, DA Davidson’s analyst suggests that Duolingo’s focus on teaching the game could potentially expand the total addressable market (TAM) for the company, similar to the expansion seen with its language courses.
"We think the TAM could expand similar to how DUOL’s TAM expanded when it started teaching languages," the analyst added.
Duolingo’s strategic shift to include more gamified content could be a signal of the company’s broader vision to encompass various forms of educational entertainment, a space that continues to attract significant user interest and engagement. As the company prepares to roll out its chess course, investors appear to be responding positively to the potential for Duolingo to capture a new segment of learners and possibly increase its revenue streams in the coming years.
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