Type of site Internet chess server Website www.lichess.org | Created by Thibault Duplessis Commercial No | |
Available in Over 80 languages (over 25 translations complete) Alexa rank 2,935 (as of January 2017) | ||
Lichess ( /liː-tʃes/ ) is an Internet chess server created by Thibault Duplessis, a French programmer. The software running Lichess and the design are open source under the AGPL license.
The main feature of the website is supporting games of live and correspondence chess against other players at different time controls. The website does not require registration, therefore anyone can play anonymously. However, for registered players Lichess employs a rating system, as well as the ability to compete in tournaments, post in the forums, and use the Stockfish chess engine for analysis of played games. However, the number of analyses one can request in a day is limited to 30 so as to prevent abuse of the server resources. Registered and non-registered users can also play against the engine. All features of the website are available for free with no exceptions, with the exception of the patron logo, earnt by making regular donations.
Lichess has training features, including chess basics, tactics training, chess coordinates and studies. It also enables avid chess players to arrange coaching for themselves.
As well as the ability to play blindfold chess, the website supports the following chess variants:
Lichess has features to assist visually impaired people to play chess on the website. It also has a chess puzzle-based CAPTCHA system.
The website enables streaming via twitch.tv, hitbox.tv, and YouTube, and features many established players such as Grandmaster Eric Hansen, International Master Greg Shahade, International Master John Bartholomew, National Master ChessNetwork amongst many other online chess celebrities.
On February 11, 2015, an official Lichess mobile app was released for Android devices. An app for mobile devices running iOS was released on March 4, 2015.
As of 27 December 2016, lichess.org had the global rank 3,156 at Alexa, with most of its visitors coming from the United States, Russia, Germany, Iran, and Spain. Lichess is ranked second only to Chess.com as one of the most popular online chess servers in the world.