Lichess Reviews 324

Notwithstanding my game ended up normally, I got their stupid message to the effect that they promoted pleasant experience and had to time me out for "potential problem"

Lichess is a terrible platform. The interface is clean and tidy, but that's where the positive attributes end.

1. Cheating is rampant.

2. The playerbase is intensely toxic. Players would rather let the time run out than resign a losing position. One player threatened to find me and kill my family.

3. It takes ages to find a game. It takes 5 minutes to find another player for a 3-minute game. Cool.

4. If you eventually find another player, they won't make a move. So you'll sit there. But if you abort, you get a warning, like you're the bad guy. Do this twice or so within the space of a day, boom, you're banned. Because either the other player deliberately didn't move, or Lichess servers didn't allow them to connect. Sounds fair.

5. Ghost moves. It happens rarely, but maybe once every other month, Lichess will "kindly" move a piece on my behalf. Usually a queen straight into danger. Amazing.

I like chess. However, not a very well done setting. There should be a strict regulations working when players waste time, they don’t play to win but to annoy people making moves without tactics. Unfortunately, they can win anyway. That’s ridiculous. I expect more interaction with the staff. There is no possibility to chat with anyone.
The fact that they let people ask for a “move back”. Come one it’s ridicoulus. Then, you choose heather or not giving them, like you are the bad one if you choose not to.
Then, when you are likely to win, as the players time ends, you eventually draw. That’s something that happens to me very frequently and it’s unfair. Very disappointed

Pay attention. At least 50% of the time you are playing a bot and not an actual human being. Especially names with an _ in their name. It's disgusting.

Get banned constantly for leaving games against cheaters after reporting numerous cheaters what a bunch of lazy incompetent donkey.. screw ya site it's pathetic

Because its wonderful for chess players and its Good!!!

I beat people on there then they ban me this site is a joke.

The site is very good and very well done.

Instead, a very big problem are the admins. They all act like "We're so nice, we're no profit", but truth is this is an online totalitarian state:

Politicized - They mind stuff that has nothing to do with online chess. Most notable instances them standing with Ukraine (but remaining silent about everyone else, including Palestine) and them taking position in a sexual misconduct allegation against two Grandmasters (something which, I think, should be handled by the autorithies).
Advertising - Despite them claiming the site is ad-free, advertising is indeed present, in the form of blog posts published in the homepage.
Power abuse - July 19th 2023 I've been banned for cheating despite me never doing it. I'm an agonistic OTB player and that account was linked to my real name, with a lot of reputational damage. The ban caused me a lot of undeserved suffering. It happened soon after I heavily criticized a friend of them, a guy of amateur level (very weak) who sold chess lessons for $50/hour (this is how much International Masters ask) who was regularly advertised on their homepage (???). I criticized him and lichess for advertising him, and shortly after (around 3 weeks) I got banned. 3 weeks are a bit of time, and maybe it was a coincidence, but maybe not, also because of course they couldn't ban me the next day or the next week, too much suspicious on their side. I played on lichess since almost 4 years and online chess in general since 13 years, and nothing like that ever happened to me. So yeah, the coincidence is suspicious.
Fanatical community - Online communities are all bad, this is no exception. It's a bunch of fanatics, extremely aggressive towards anyone who dares to criticize lichess, even if you are kind and polite, and the things you say are completely reasonable. If you refuse to adhere to lichess in a religious-like way get ready to be attacked en masse. Very toxic place and with great potential to deal serious psychological damage to younger and/or vulnerable people.

The esteem I have for the humans behind all this couldn't be any lower. Even before the ban I noticed they were generally very arrogant, rude and unkind (and I think EVERYONE, not just the people banned, can confirm this). I think the admins are not people who are there to offer a service to the community, they just want to exert a power and feel superior to others in my opinion. I don't think they care the slightest about being fair or nice, nor they care about the consequences of their actions. Or even worse of all this, they may just be in bad faith. Either way, horrible people.

If you want to play chess this site is good, but I heavily suggest to always remain anonymous and not to talk to the people of the forum and/or to the admins.

They banned me forever and now i cant play lichess anymore do not use lichess trust me worst chess app

I want to say, that i thjnk it is so good that it is free, since many of us can not afford chess.com
I would try to donated in the future but overall best for everything, except you could really use dark glass board like chess.com

i want to enjoy chess, and then comes Magnus Carlsen beating me... infact he is not magnus and he is not a human, he's a shallow person using an engine. Lichess does not ban cheaters. they warn me instead for accusing them of cheating

The app is good but the policy behind is just bullshit. You get ban for random reasons.
I stop playing on it and went back to Chess.com.
Only use it for analysis without connecting

Excellent app. Can find opponents quickly. Analysis is awesome. I can also download all my games!!! Great!

Great app! Everything anyone could ever need in a chess app for free!
The bad reviews are from unsportsmanlike players such as the sore losers who leave games without resigning and cheaters.

Lichess used to be a good chess site, and from the mere graphic and playing it's still upon average. It's the lately increasing arbitrariness and arrogance of the admins though, that make the experience unbearable.
They watch and control every game, tell the players when to draw or even resign - intrusive modding unlike anything seen before, and reminding on "1984"! Refereeing errors happen all the time, and you can't PM mods to talk about it. They, on the other hand, force you to read their messages, held in a lecturing tone.
You can once file an appeal, in theory - but when you say anything they dislike, your account gets permanently muted. Overall i see an atmosphere of fear and paranoia for the Big Brother, reminding on the feeling in an authoritarian state. The players know their accounts can be delayed any moment without warning or reasoning
Thus ther's no sense of just playing for fun any longer!

It's free, Ad-free, and very enjoyable application with many things to do.
Overall, it's GREAT!

Terrible company. Got banned in an hour after opening my account. Via appeal they keep telling me I have three alts, altough those belong to some Balkan dude (I'm Swiss). No matter what I say, they just keep responding with "we don't believe you". Very unkind and definitely won't recommend.

J. Mulder

website full with cheaters, puzzles and anything related to that is crap. If you don't do it their way, you lose even when my move is better and can mate next move but not good enough. According to them, betting trade rook instead of letting me end the game... if I could give 0 stars, I would!!! stay away from the website and app!!!

I've been doing the chess puzzles for over a year. It's great. It's free. Great graph and statistics. They added a 'hint' button. I like that it is an option, although I seldom use it, because I want to improve my score. No risk, no gain.

I would like a HOLD button, so that I can study a puzzle for a longer period before it auto refreshes to a new puzzle. Is that possible?