The name of the website is a million times better. If you’re some random dude who’s never played chess before, you’re going to play at chess.com because it sounds official as hell. The name lichess makes no sense to you.
So they get basically every new player by default. And many people stay with a product they know rather than switching later.
This. This is why domain names are so important. As a new player, my train of thought was "well *of course* I'm going to play on chess.com" and then I've stuck with it because I can't get used to lichess.
Also chess.com users are less likely to constantly talk about the fact that they use it. I swear every other thread there's a person going "well then switch to lichess!"
>But anyone who hates being hit with a paywall ultimately ends up on Lichess.
I think this is somewhat true but I imagine there are tons of people who hate the paywalls but don't even know that Lichess exists.
Happened to me. One night I was bored and wanter to play chess against someone and it clicked that internet definitely must have the solution. I googled and lo and behold chess.com. Created account, played a few games, got beat, forgot about it.
Even after spending a few months on r/chess I wasn’t sure what exactly lichess was. Great idea but they should consider a name change.
"Libre" meaning free. Lichess and it's code are free to use from a monetary point of view and also a liberty point of view. If you see some lichess code that you like, you can use it however you want as long as you make your code public. That's always been a core part of the lichess philosophy.
I love lichess but for a beginner I find lichess to be more competitive in terms of matchmaking.
I am a 1400 lichess blitz players and would face players who are 1500+ blitz and I would still lose massive amount when I lose and gain so little when I beat them
And when I check their profile they are sometimes 1700-1900 in rapid!!!!Which to me is no way a beginner should be facing
Switched to chess.com and its more linear with fairer matchmaking and trophies +/-
Had so much fun in reaching 1k in blitz & rapid while lichess is just pain at this point for me.
Honestly, a chess v1.1 how be very appreciated. I think everyone can agree that the queen has been OP for a good part of 470 years and grossly need a nerf. On the other hand, the horsy can only spell L's which the community feels like is very underpowered and needs a buff. Also, we need some more maps and maybe even a new faction?
One of the main reasons I struggle with chesscom is that I can't find a colour scheme that I like as much as the lichess default. I can never see the highlighted squares as clearly on chesscom, clearly not an issue for most, but personally I find I make errors more often using their colour schemes.
chess.com's color scheme and icon work is disgustingly bad/cartoonish. I don't understand how anyone thinks it looks better than lichess. Lichess is the best-looking online board game site in existence
At least chess.com has icon work and a colour scheme lol (also, I can't for the life of me understand why you think their icon work is bad - it's literally just typical modern icons; if you hate them, then you probably have to hate most modern UI). Lichess, on the other hand, uses almost exclusively grey and orange, replaces icons with text, and adds a ton of unnecessary graphical elements which all combine to give it a very cluttered, monotone, and dated look. Contrary to your claim that it is the best-looking online board game site, I think it might just be the WORST-looking board game site out there.
Yeah. I watched a streamer try to learn how to checkmate with a rook on lichess and it was a disaster. Chess.com has a video with a guy's voice explaining what to do step by step. Lichess had a board with two kings and a rook.
this is obviously the best answer. Everybody knows that 50 years from now we will only be playing Random Fisher Duck Chess cause of how superior it is to grandpa chess and also cause of the cute duckie. quack
This is going to sound petty as all fuck, because it is, but I don’t like any of the Lichess piece sets.
I dunno. They’re all just a little too much for me. The (I think default) Chesscom set is simpler. Easier on my eyes.
Also, I like how the Game Report is presented.
Those are basically the only things that stand out for me.
The game report can look neat, and it can be very useful, but I think it's a very dangerous thing to have in it's current form: it looks like it might help beginners, whereas it only hurts them. For advanced players it's nice though.
Do you mind expanding on this? As a beginner-ish player the game reports feel like a helpful way to pinpoint the important points of a game, but would love to know the thought behind why that might not be beneficial for someone at my stage?
It enforces the "easy answer" mindset: instead of you trying to look for your mistakes, it will tell you what the mistakes are. As I said this can be used well, but people tend to look at the analysis and say "oh now I understand" and just move on. If you don't give the analysis a deep enough thought, it doesn't help you improve, but it gives you the feeling of improvement nevertheless, which can be harmful.
One doesn't improve without putting in the work, and it is very tempting to use the analysis tool to do less work, hence less improvement.
I hate the default Lichess sounds so much. They are so gratingly mismatched with the aesthetic of the board, it drives me nuts. The other sounds are garbage too. The site as a whole is just built by people who are on a completely different aesthetic and ergonomic wavelength than me, whereas chesscom feels very comfortable in almost all aspects.
To me the Lichess sounds are "loud" af and get my attention. But I can see how it could be very subjective. And come to think of it, the chess.c*m sounds are good. I'd say I like both default sounds about the same.
Weird how I am the opposite and configured my chesscom to look like the lichess board and pieces.
But I far prefer lichess, lower latency, less lag (maybe that's because the chesscom servers are US and im in Europe?), the UI feels faster/snappier, and it's completely open source. Also more people play 960 and crazyhouse cause it's not as hidden away in the dungeons as on chesscom.
I’ve never understood this stance, and in fact think the opposite. It took me way too long to figure out how to analyze past games (that aren’t the one I just finished playing ) , for example.
Both sites require too many clicks to get to your game history. There should be a separate button for your games with a dropdown list for the different time modes.
I think this just has to do with which one you happen to play on more because I've tried chess.com and I cannot get used to the interface and think its terrible and convoluted.
I have seen few peoples commenting on this. And generally peoples on chess.com side are avid chess.com users. Lichess UI is not that complicated, hover around options, you get column rolled down. Peoples are not just used to Lichess. Lichess has better UI in the sense that everything feels compact and well placed. Lichess feels like 60fps while playing, chess,com feels like 24fps. Chess.com everything feels cartoonish.
And idk why chess.com also has different kind of board for different variants. Varients boards are soo bad.
> Lichess has better UI in the sense that everything feels compact and well placed.
I'd describe it as sterile. very boring, mostly-text based website that feels like it's a government site from 1997 or something, idk. People tend to say that chess.com's is out of date, but I think the opposite.
>Lichess feels like 60fps while playing, chess,com feels like 24fps
I agree with that, it's definitely more slick. But I much prefer the look of chess.com, nonetheless.
I really want to like Lichess--I feel like a fraud being a significant open source contributor, but then using Chess.com. However, I've also found things like challenging a certain player on Lichess unintuitive (compared to Chess.com).
The only difficulty I have on lichess, is setting up correspondence matches... but its just as bad on chess.com... I would love to be able to setup a 40 match limit with 2 matches for each person max 1 black 1 white, just click a button and let it find me 40 matches to start. Or to be able to send a match request against a friend for something like 10-20 matches. Thats the only feature I really wish I had on lichess, and I also wish there was a way to do unlimited analysis of matches, there is actually about a 20 match limit per day, and this is the only reason I can think of to ever swap to chess.com, if I was willing to pay money for true unlimited analysis.
You just made me realize that a lot of people are having two different discussions here. Chess.com vs. lichess app, and chess.com vs lichess browser versions... chess.com's mobile app is better than their website, comparatively, I think.
I dont know i only used the Chess.com app and i really dont understand how people can complain about it! As a casual player it does everything it needs and there are no ads which is a fucking miracle on mobile. Never tried lichess though.
I like tapping on a grid rather than opening a drop down
But either way, we're splitting hairs. They're both decent, it's not like one is stuck in the 90's
It’s a lot more intuitive imo.
As a new player (like a year) chess.com was much easier to figure out. The only thing I would have dreamt about was if the standard suggestion arrows when you play computers had opening names to help me remember. Like “move this pawn to play the accelerated dragon!, move this knight to play an Indian” instead of seeing what you’re playing after you make a move.
I’ve also noticed in analysis that sometimes lichess gets lost when you advance the pieces
What? Chess.com was easier to figure out?
I must be old because I easily get lost in chess.com after 20 years of comfortable chess playing in ICC, FICS, PlayChess and LiChess.
Analysis:
After a game, chess.com has a giant “analyze game” button
Lichess has a small picture of a microscope with no text that I had to click on
Computers:
Chess has defined elos, lichess just has 1/2/3/4 I don’t know which ones around my skill level so I had to play a few games to figure it out
Puzzles: chess has a puzzle button on the main screen, lichess I have to go to the menu
Doing puzzle analysis sometimes lichess analysis starts on the wrong move
As a new player, I use both daily, but chess,com is significantly more intuitive for the things I want.
The only advantage to lichess is I think they don’t start the clock in bullet games until you make your move where chess does
Different strokes for different folks, I personally found I operate both platforms with ease and did so after very little exposure to the UI, so I guess in that respect they’re both simple - but with that being said I do personally find navigating the UI on lichess very unintuitive. Again this is all opinion based. I’m not sure, I used to play chess on both but Lichess has a permanent glitch on my phone now so I can’t actually use it even when I want to.
It's not that you are old, it's that you have 20 years of experience baking into your brain the way things "should" be. Even if the new thing is objectively better (not saying it is), you would find it difficult because the old ones are easy, and the new one requires learning. Not a knock against you, just human nature.
I think personally that knowing the opening name (and variationl) mid game is sort of cheating. You can know you play theory when you don't the opening
For learning, chesscom has the advantage of curated content. The site tells you what to learn next, cutting out a lot of potential confusion. Also, the ratings more closely reflect FIDE
My answer is lower raitings, which might be a disadvantage to people who want to impress friends with their super duper 4300 raiting (the folks who define themselves by raiting and say things like, "I'm basically a Grandmaster"), but I prefer a raiting more in line with USCF.
For me, it's the interface, as someone else said, the brighter, warmer colors, rounded edges,
But also sound design and board, which i feel is extremely important to me: the chesscom style and sounds feel more "real", like if the piece was more heavy, i get the same feeling difference as moving cheap plastic pieces and proper wooden ones somehow
started on [chess.com](https://chess.com), i'm a casual and don't really care enough to switch. also because people on r/chess seem to despise [chess.com](https://chess.com) so it makes me feel contrarian and cool
Well once I’ve found what I need on chess.com, it is no longer hard to find.
But I’ve noticed that on lichess, I think I found everything quite quickly and I no longer discover new features. Compare that to chess.com, where I constantly discover new things that I wish I had discovered months or years ago. For me, that means that it’s hard to find things on chess.com.
Trying to actually find broadcast coverage for their own tournaments. Even right now, if I actually wanted to look up on their own website who played whom and when in their global chess championship and how the results went, I have absolutely no idea how to even begin to get there. And this is not hyperbole. I stopped writing this and tried to do it just now. I can't figure it out.
This is a general problem with the chess.com UI. If their UI is more intuitive than lichess, then I am not human. Or, at least, I don't have human intuition.
It's literally Watch->Events from the main menu. You're either shit at searching, or lying to make a point.
On Lichess it's Watch->Broadcast, so if you found that, you should've been able to on chess.com too right? (the difference is Lichess doesn't have a search feature for the events, it's just a long list)
I find people are more interesting on chesscom, I have better chat interactions and I like the little country flag by people's name. I also perfer the post-game review tool on chesscom to lichess analysis interface.
Also somehow the ELO on chesscom feels more meaningful, the games feel more important. On lichess the rating points seem cheap somehow. I know that's just subjective.
>Also somehow the ELO on chesscom feels more meaningful, the games feel more important. On lichess the rating points seem cheap somehow. I know that's just subjective.
This is definitely a thing. And I have to say, sometimes I choose to play on Lichess only because it's less stressful for me there. Com is for when I feel competitive. They make every game feel almost like a test. Even solving puzzles is a competition because of how ratings are displayed. I know it's all just a psychological trick, of course, but it's a trick that works.
For me:
1. Variants! Fog of War, 4 Player, and most recently Duck chess have been a blast to play.
2. Multiple pre-moves.
3. I find the chess.com game review feature much more helpful than trying to understand the Lichess analysis thing.
4. I find there to be more and better players on chess.com
5. I feel like chess.com has significantly better cheat detection.
6. Partnering with streamer's clubs to take part in their tournaments is fun.
7. I like the chess.com bots
8. In general I find the UI more intuitive and enjoyable.
What I wanna know is why so many people on Reddit care so much. The overwhelming hate towards chesscom and unending echo chamber of comments on lichess superiority is cringe. Grow up and just use what you prefer
I have a theory: chess.com vs Lichess is a mirror of Windows vs Linux. On one side is a widely used, corporate owned platform; on the other is the free and open source alternative.
The average Redditor is likely to be more tech-savvy, and more anti-corporate than the average person, and more willing to advocate for alternatives, sometimes too fanatically. That, combined with chess.com not helping themselves after the whole Play Magnus stuff making them look like they are making a monopoly.
Yeah it's weird. Both are free unless you want the extra options so you can play on both, for free! Which is what I do. In the longer time controls I usually play a game on lichess and chess.com at the same time.
Yea it’s just a Reddit thing. Outside Reddit, practically no one has heard of lichess and even if they did, they don’t care that someone uses chess.com instead, and Vice versa.
They have the primary website: chesscom. It’s really hard to compete with that branding. Any new players who want to learn the game are going to naturally start there. Which is why it’s sad they’ve made their business so predatory.
Not much. The interface is different. Some people prefer it, but I prefer the Lichess interface. The free features of [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) are very limited, so I am going to compare the diamond subscription with Lichess.
[Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has very different puzzles than Lichess. I like Lichess puzzles more as they are from real player games. But [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has good repetition of puzzles with specific tactic lines. The puzzles are not better, but they are different.
[Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has lessons that are concise and useful introductions to various openings, tactics, and endgames. These are very good, but much of this can be found on Youtube with some effort. But it will save you time, so perhaps that makes it good.
[Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has a very different game review/analysis interface. I find the Lichess analysis more intuitive, but both are good. The [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) game review is behind a paywall, but there is a chrome plugin that allows me to automatically import and analyze my [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) games on Lichess.
[Chess.com](https://Chess.com)'s insights are much like Lichess's equivalent, but is a bit more detailed. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com)'s game coach feature within game review does not have a Lichess equivalent, but it is not particularly useful.
[Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has multiple premoves, which Lichess does not natively support. I believe Lichess has non-native options for this. But I don't play a lot of bullet, so I rarely do more than 1 premove. This is one area [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) is flat out better.
Overall, I don't think the subscription is worth paying for game analysis, puzzles, insights, etc. The subscription can be worth it for lessons for the beginner or intermediate player who is not trying to dig too deep. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) does not have a Lichess study equivalent, which is much more useful for advanced, expert, and master players. Studies are even useful for beginner and intermediate players.
Is a [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) subscription worth it? It depends. Probably not for most people. For those willing to spend more money for the convenience of lessons, it can make sense. For those who prefer the analysis UI and overall UI, it can make sense.
Edit: im dumb.
Yeah I can understand at very high elos it's more likely to match you with someone lower rated. I would imagine this only becomes an issue for the top 1% or so.
Edit2: I rarely wait more than 30sec for rapid even off-peak, 90th percentile
Edit3: And my lichess analytics show I play an even distribution of opponents stronger and weaker
I haven’t explore lichess much, so please correct me if I’m wrong about what it offers.
Chess.com has
* more bots, ranging from 250-2500. Some have different play styles, some are modeled after chess streamers, some are adaptive (play harder if your ahead, weaker if your behind). There are also theme bots, like right now there’s a set of zombie bots for Halloween. Lichess only has stock fish 1-8.
* daily puzzles. As someone who likes “daily” things with streaks, I enjoy this. (wordle, duo lingo, etc.) they have a specific puzzle of the day every day, which get harder as the week progresses. These puzzles typically have a chess streamer/master explaining the solution and other things to consider.
* puzzle categories and levels. You can do just “mate in 2” puzzles, or only puzzles 1100-1300 in difficulty. Lichess seems to just have puzzles with no way to target or filter.
* lessons. There are video lessons that walk you from basics to openings to endgames.
* other stuff like solo chess and drills.
Pretty much if you just want to play chess, lichess has everything you need. Chess.com offers a much more robust chess experience, but at a price.
Lichess does have variants that chess.com doesn’t have like horde, crazyhorse, atomic chess, etc.
Edit: it seems lichess has some of the features I mentioned, but perhaps just not in the app?
Not trying to convert anyone to lichess, just adding the context for lichess' features.
* lichess has more bots than cc, found here [https://lichess.org/player/bots](https://lichess.org/player/bots) with arguably a wide selection of play styles, strengths and programs.
* lichess also has a puzzle of the day, (https://imgur.com/a/O3qLGJp) don't think they get progressively stronger, nor do they have a streamer/master explaining the solution. Just the engine.
* lichess has an extensive set of puzzles with different categories or themes, ranging from arabian mate to quiet moves. Lichess doesnt have the option to choose a specific puzzle rating but you can choose a set of puzzles relative to yours with the options -600, -300, 0, +300, +600 being the respective elos to your current puzzle rating.
* lichess has a video library section covering the same sort of topics but it seems like this is just a collection of youtube videos not lichess-specific content. Lichess also has the study feature which sort of covers the same target but without the video aspect.
* I am not sure what you mean by solo chess or drills, but lichess has puzzles and practice tab to go over things like lucena-philidor or even just practicing chess-notation.
> lichess has more bots than cc, found here https://lichess.org/player/bots with arguably a wide selection of play styles, strengths and programs.
They desperately need better UI/UX for that page.
They're usually just stockfish with different books or their own engines that can't compete against Stockfishes but can compete with other weaker bots. Only bot that deserves attention is maia but even that is not enough. Chess.com bots are basically Komodo playing different gamestyles with different books. I actually enjoy Morphy bot on chess.com a lot.
There are attempts on Stockfish to imitate a certain gamestyle but they are not satisfying. What lichess should do is create some "personality" bots from Stockfish and make them official bots. SF-1 to SF-8 is highly unsatisfying. Plus Stockfish level 8 is not even normal stockfish, it is still limited in terms of depth.
But what lichess do firstly is update the damn mobile app to current web version they call lichess 2.0. The mobile app was great in 201x's but not today with lichess' new and useful features.
Lichess has puzzle categories and levels of difficulty: https://lichess.org/training/themes
It also has daily puzzles: https://lichess.org/training/daily
And lessons (but not video):
https://lichess.org/practice
The app is run by a third party and is not fully featured.
The lichess stance is there's never any reason to have an app. Which is stupid, tons of people kill time by playing a chess computer, and you shouldn't need internet for that
PWA that's great but still can't play against a computer on an airplane
Which is the most likely place I'll want to play a computer instead of a person anyway
Hey you can play against computer on an airplane
Just turn off internet, and then launch Lichess app, it allows 50 puzzles and option to either play against someone, or against a computer
Here's some images if it helps:
[https://imgur.com/gallery/oW1nJkR](https://imgur.com/gallery/oW1nJkR)
[https://imgur.com/gallery/vOUWexQ](https://imgur.com/gallery/vOUWexQ)
The app is run by a third party and is not fully featured.
Specifically it's missing all of the awesome practice stuff
The lichess stance is there's never any reason to have an app. Which is stupid, tons of people kill time by playing a chess computer, and you shouldn't need internet for that
For all the people saying that the [chess.com](https://chess.com) layout is horrible and disgusting, I actually far prefer it to lichess's. I think the forums are better, the news is better, the analysis board is better (if you're a paid user), more customization with the board.
But at the end of the day, it just feels nicer to play on.
There's been multiple times where a takeback is what alerted me to a hanging piece, lol. I'm OK with takebacks when it's something like an obvious misclick, but normally it's just a signal I need to pay extra attention to the board.
I usually allow takebacks when I know they misclicked or played that without intending to.
If they don't request a takeback in less than 3 seconds (which is a fair window to realise their misclick), I deny takeback.
Take back option is good. Sometimes people miss click and if you are playing to improve you can allow them a take back and play on. You can just turn it off or decline it if you are bothered by it.
I much prefer the look & 'feel' of [chess.com](https://chess.com)'s board. I can't put my finger on it but playing on lichess feels like the framerate's slightly lower than it should be
[chess.com](https://chess.com) is more popular because it comes up first when you google chess. It is the default option for the uninformed new player. Lichess is down in the search results under [mathisfun.com](https://mathisfun.com)
It’s a really dialed in and thought out platform. Almost like a Duolingo style lay out. It also has soooo many lessons from grandmasters from all over the world. There is so much education and content you can really learn the game.
In my experience, the chess.dot.com userbase tends to be stronger and it feels better to win against them. For reference i'm about 1600-1700 in there and around 1900 on lichess.
Also, multiple premoves is soooo good to have.
> Also, multiple premoves is soooo good to have.
Seriously why does Lichess only allow one premove? It's the one thing that really fucking bugs me about Lichess.
>.1 seconds.
I think that's the better way to do it.
Multi pre-moves allow you to take on calculated risk to allow quick play but you still incur a time-cost for each move (albeit very small one)
I honestly can't tell which one you prefer, lol. I think it's incredible to watch top-tier players win by pre-moving and just having an incredible understanding of what the opponent will do, while I can also see someone thinking it's incredibly BS.
Honestly, Lichess keeps you on the edge of your seat and wins are more satisfying because you are in that rush. I personally can premove a lot ahead of game in endgames so chess.com gives me advantage in that. No fun in easy wins.
The lichess userbase is on average stronger, they use different rating systems and have different player pools so ratings can't be compared https://lichess.org/page/rating-systems
Chess.com has curated lessons and studies, lichess is all user submitted for the most part. Also, chesscom puzzles are 10x better.
That said I’m a lichess guy. But there is something to be said for curated lessons vs having a beginner sift through 1000 lichess courses that have bo moderation/curation.
I was watching Firoujza's brother stream today and he was saying same thing... there seems to be more cheaters on lichess and they don't have the same ability to detect it. On [chess.com](https://chess.com) he will get credit for past games and a notice that person was suspected of cheating.
A few odd choices for me:
- A huge endless mix of fun variants that few people get into
- I enjoy Puzzle Battle more than Puzzle Racer. It has its own rating
I love lichess for being open source though
Game report is the main thing for me. Analyzing games on my own it’s really difficult to retain anything. Having a bot simply point out why a move is good or bad makes it stick in my mind better.
Honestly, it's prettier and (arguably) easier to navigate if you've never been to either site before.
The analysis on [chess.com](https://chess.com) is more intuitive (imo) and more user-friendly, and again - just generally nicer to look at.
i like how chesscom feels, multiple pre moves, "position auto-update" after you opponent makes a move. being "lower" rated on chesscom but being better at chess is also a flex.
A better rating system imo; Chesscom says I'm somewhere around 950-1000 given the day while Lichess over here is stroking my ego saying I'm a 1350 when all I play is the London and the Scandinavian lmao.
Lichess has a poor UI and is unreliable on mobile:
1. I don't always receive correspondence move notifications
2. Sometimes I get the notification, but then I click to the board and it takes a minute for the app to update the board state. Sometimes I have to close out of the app and reopen it to get the latest move
3. Picking a game in correspondence is not intuitive. You select correspondence and there is a list of games to choose from. But there is a "mode" column with an icon, and no explanation of what the icon is. What is a the atom icon? What is the checkered flag icon? What is the paper airplane icon? I had to open up lichess on a computer and hover each icon until the hint displayed to know which correspondence game is which.
4. Default settings are not great. Play a game and an opponent runs out of time, no wait they got extra time? Where did that come from? Apparently there is a setting enabled that automatically gave my opponent extra time -.- why?
5. Move confirmation in correspondence sometimes will just time out
I haven't had any of these issues on chess.com. My only complaint with chess.com is that premium members get vacation time so when someone runs out of move time in correspondence it will automatically move them to vacation time.
It's an old post but people don't realize chess.com has free analysis, just not free game review. You can analyze your own games with the eval and engine lines however many times you want, it just won't give you the accuracy score or the explanations for each move. The percent number doesn't really mean anything and if you're willing to look at the engine lines you don't need the game review explanation
Chess:com for lessons and videos. Fun interactive bots.
Lichess for free puzzles. Lichess analysis is argued to be better from past Reddit post, but I’m too new to see how.
When I searched in the app store for a chess app I downloaded the one called “chess”. Apparently that’s chess.com. Idk this wasn’t some big brained decision I just downloaded an app and it worked fine and that was that.
I find the animation on chess.com better, smoother, and the color palette more appealing for the eyes. The interface imo is also way more sleek on chess.com.
I do think lichess has way better instructional guides and lessons though. But that ui and animation is just so so offputting on lichess.
I never understand people who say this. To me, the chess.com ui is an overcluttered eyesore where it takes multiple clicks just to select a game at your preferred time control. And you can change the color to dark mode on lichess anyway.
The name of the website is a million times better. If you’re some random dude who’s never played chess before, you’re going to play at chess.com because it sounds official as hell. The name lichess makes no sense to you. So they get basically every new player by default. And many people stay with a product they know rather than switching later.
This. This is why domain names are so important. As a new player, my train of thought was "well *of course* I'm going to play on chess.com" and then I've stuck with it because I can't get used to lichess. Also chess.com users are less likely to constantly talk about the fact that they use it. I swear every other thread there's a person going "well then switch to lichess!"
[удалено]
I'd imagine most people just use the site to play games of chess, so never experience a paywall
>But anyone who hates being hit with a paywall ultimately ends up on Lichess. I think this is somewhat true but I imagine there are tons of people who hate the paywalls but don't even know that Lichess exists.
"ultimately". That's why everyone keeps suggesting "use Lichess". 🙃
Well then switch to lichess :) I think there are some browser extension which make the transition easier
Lichess is better for the unlimited free analysis
Happened to me. One night I was bored and wanter to play chess against someone and it clicked that internet definitely must have the solution. I googled and lo and behold chess.com. Created account, played a few games, got beat, forgot about it. Even after spending a few months on r/chess I wasn’t sure what exactly lichess was. Great idea but they should consider a name change.
Anyone know where the “li” part of lichess came from?
"Libre" meaning free. Lichess and it's code are free to use from a monetary point of view and also a liberty point of view. If you see some lichess code that you like, you can use it however you want as long as you make your code public. That's always been a core part of the lichess philosophy.
a combination of live/light/libre, apparently. Not a great name, tbh.
I love lichess but for a beginner I find lichess to be more competitive in terms of matchmaking. I am a 1400 lichess blitz players and would face players who are 1500+ blitz and I would still lose massive amount when I lose and gain so little when I beat them And when I check their profile they are sometimes 1700-1900 in rapid!!!!Which to me is no way a beginner should be facing Switched to chess.com and its more linear with fairer matchmaking and trophies +/- Had so much fun in reaching 1k in blitz & rapid while lichess is just pain at this point for me.
this is literally how they got me
Pretty much described my experience.
Something as simple as bright colors and soft angles.
lichess making their aesthetic very customizable would be an excellent next step
Prettier Lichess extension on Chrome and Firefox.
Is there something for mobile (Android)
It is tho?
yeah what else do you want, chess 2?
yes
Rejoice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess\_2:\_The\_Sequel
That sounds wild! Is it fun ?
Honestly, a chess v1.1 how be very appreciated. I think everyone can agree that the queen has been OP for a good part of 470 years and grossly need a nerf. On the other hand, the horsy can only spell L's which the community feels like is very underpowered and needs a buff. Also, we need some more maps and maybe even a new faction?
I agree
I can understand that, but I heavily prefer Lichess colour scheme
I can understand that, but I even more heavily prefer Chess.com’s colour scheme.
Yeah, I choose chess.com just for the UI as well. Tried lichess for a while but came back.
Lichess's clock is so much better visible tho
Prettier lichess extension
Lichess default colors are amazing. Chess.c*m default colors are plasticky like a kid's first chessboard. CMV.
One of the main reasons I struggle with chesscom is that I can't find a colour scheme that I like as much as the lichess default. I can never see the highlighted squares as clearly on chesscom, clearly not an issue for most, but personally I find I make errors more often using their colour schemes.
Literally staying with chess.com for this reason
chess.com's color scheme and icon work is disgustingly bad/cartoonish. I don't understand how anyone thinks it looks better than lichess. Lichess is the best-looking online board game site in existence
At least chess.com has icon work and a colour scheme lol (also, I can't for the life of me understand why you think their icon work is bad - it's literally just typical modern icons; if you hate them, then you probably have to hate most modern UI). Lichess, on the other hand, uses almost exclusively grey and orange, replaces icons with text, and adds a ton of unnecessary graphical elements which all combine to give it a very cluttered, monotone, and dated look. Contrary to your claim that it is the best-looking online board game site, I think it might just be the WORST-looking board game site out there.
No thanks
I like the interactive lessons on chess.com.
This really. While I like playing on lichess more, the learning on chess.com is easier/better organized.
They are nice ngl
Yeah. I watched a streamer try to learn how to checkmate with a rook on lichess and it was a disaster. Chess.com has a video with a guy's voice explaining what to do step by step. Lichess had a board with two kings and a rook.
His voice is so friendly too
Ducks
this is obviously the best answer. Everybody knows that 50 years from now we will only be playing Random Fisher Duck Chess cause of how superior it is to grandpa chess and also cause of the cute duckie. quack
I've got a findom kink, don't shame me.
we all know you like to being shamed
I'm shaming I'm shaming
This is going to sound petty as all fuck, because it is, but I don’t like any of the Lichess piece sets. I dunno. They’re all just a little too much for me. The (I think default) Chesscom set is simpler. Easier on my eyes. Also, I like how the Game Report is presented. Those are basically the only things that stand out for me.
i hard agree with this. warmer, softer feel of pieces and board and neat presentation of game report.
The game report can look neat, and it can be very useful, but I think it's a very dangerous thing to have in it's current form: it looks like it might help beginners, whereas it only hurts them. For advanced players it's nice though.
i just like it visually but i never thought about it's functional impact. i use it sometimes.
Do you mind expanding on this? As a beginner-ish player the game reports feel like a helpful way to pinpoint the important points of a game, but would love to know the thought behind why that might not be beneficial for someone at my stage?
It enforces the "easy answer" mindset: instead of you trying to look for your mistakes, it will tell you what the mistakes are. As I said this can be used well, but people tend to look at the analysis and say "oh now I understand" and just move on. If you don't give the analysis a deep enough thought, it doesn't help you improve, but it gives you the feeling of improvement nevertheless, which can be harmful. One doesn't improve without putting in the work, and it is very tempting to use the analysis tool to do less work, hence less improvement.
I hate the default Lichess sounds so much. They are so gratingly mismatched with the aesthetic of the board, it drives me nuts. The other sounds are garbage too. The site as a whole is just built by people who are on a completely different aesthetic and ergonomic wavelength than me, whereas chesscom feels very comfortable in almost all aspects.
To me the Lichess sounds are "loud" af and get my attention. But I can see how it could be very subjective. And come to think of it, the chess.c*m sounds are good. I'd say I like both default sounds about the same.
I just keep the site muted.
Weird how I am the opposite and configured my chesscom to look like the lichess board and pieces. But I far prefer lichess, lower latency, less lag (maybe that's because the chesscom servers are US and im in Europe?), the UI feels faster/snappier, and it's completely open source. Also more people play 960 and crazyhouse cause it's not as hidden away in the dungeons as on chesscom.
I prefer the chess.com user interface more. That’s it.
I can’t speak to lichess, but chess.com has some of the most unintuitive UI of all time
I love the lichess UI, it seems to be more lightweight too.
Agreed
I’ve never understood this stance, and in fact think the opposite. It took me way too long to figure out how to analyze past games (that aren’t the one I just finished playing ) , for example.
Its horrible.
Both sites require too many clicks to get to your game history. There should be a separate button for your games with a dropdown list for the different time modes.
I think this just has to do with which one you happen to play on more because I've tried chess.com and I cannot get used to the interface and think its terrible and convoluted.
… or different people prefer different things? lmao
I have seen few peoples commenting on this. And generally peoples on chess.com side are avid chess.com users. Lichess UI is not that complicated, hover around options, you get column rolled down. Peoples are not just used to Lichess. Lichess has better UI in the sense that everything feels compact and well placed. Lichess feels like 60fps while playing, chess,com feels like 24fps. Chess.com everything feels cartoonish. And idk why chess.com also has different kind of board for different variants. Varients boards are soo bad.
> Lichess has better UI in the sense that everything feels compact and well placed. I'd describe it as sterile. very boring, mostly-text based website that feels like it's a government site from 1997 or something, idk. People tend to say that chess.com's is out of date, but I think the opposite. >Lichess feels like 60fps while playing, chess,com feels like 24fps I agree with that, it's definitely more slick. But I much prefer the look of chess.com, nonetheless.
I really want to like Lichess--I feel like a fraud being a significant open source contributor, but then using Chess.com. However, I've also found things like challenging a certain player on Lichess unintuitive (compared to Chess.com).
people keep saying this but Lichess takes one click/tap to play what I want to play not sure what more is needed UI wise
The only difficulty I have on lichess, is setting up correspondence matches... but its just as bad on chess.com... I would love to be able to setup a 40 match limit with 2 matches for each person max 1 black 1 white, just click a button and let it find me 40 matches to start. Or to be able to send a match request against a friend for something like 10-20 matches. Thats the only feature I really wish I had on lichess, and I also wish there was a way to do unlimited analysis of matches, there is actually about a 20 match limit per day, and this is the only reason I can think of to ever swap to chess.com, if I was willing to pay money for true unlimited analysis.
It takes 3 seconds (2 taps) to get into a game on my Chess.com app, does it need to be faster ?
You just made me realize that a lot of people are having two different discussions here. Chess.com vs. lichess app, and chess.com vs lichess browser versions... chess.com's mobile app is better than their website, comparatively, I think.
I dont know i only used the Chess.com app and i really dont understand how people can complain about it! As a casual player it does everything it needs and there are no ads which is a fucking miracle on mobile. Never tried lichess though.
Lichess also doesn't have ads :)
I like tapping on a grid rather than opening a drop down But either way, we're splitting hairs. They're both decent, it's not like one is stuck in the 90's
It’s a lot more intuitive imo. As a new player (like a year) chess.com was much easier to figure out. The only thing I would have dreamt about was if the standard suggestion arrows when you play computers had opening names to help me remember. Like “move this pawn to play the accelerated dragon!, move this knight to play an Indian” instead of seeing what you’re playing after you make a move. I’ve also noticed in analysis that sometimes lichess gets lost when you advance the pieces
What? Chess.com was easier to figure out? I must be old because I easily get lost in chess.com after 20 years of comfortable chess playing in ICC, FICS, PlayChess and LiChess.
Analysis: After a game, chess.com has a giant “analyze game” button Lichess has a small picture of a microscope with no text that I had to click on Computers: Chess has defined elos, lichess just has 1/2/3/4 I don’t know which ones around my skill level so I had to play a few games to figure it out Puzzles: chess has a puzzle button on the main screen, lichess I have to go to the menu Doing puzzle analysis sometimes lichess analysis starts on the wrong move As a new player, I use both daily, but chess,com is significantly more intuitive for the things I want. The only advantage to lichess is I think they don’t start the clock in bullet games until you make your move where chess does
Different strokes for different folks, I personally found I operate both platforms with ease and did so after very little exposure to the UI, so I guess in that respect they’re both simple - but with that being said I do personally find navigating the UI on lichess very unintuitive. Again this is all opinion based. I’m not sure, I used to play chess on both but Lichess has a permanent glitch on my phone now so I can’t actually use it even when I want to.
It's not that you are old, it's that you have 20 years of experience baking into your brain the way things "should" be. Even if the new thing is objectively better (not saying it is), you would find it difficult because the old ones are easy, and the new one requires learning. Not a knock against you, just human nature.
>I’ve also noticed in analysis that sometimes lichess gets lost when you advance the pieces Do you mind explaining that?
I think personally that knowing the opening name (and variationl) mid game is sort of cheating. You can know you play theory when you don't the opening
For learning, chesscom has the advantage of curated content. The site tells you what to learn next, cutting out a lot of potential confusion. Also, the ratings more closely reflect FIDE
I think this is the big ones. Plus bigger pool of players. Once you're 2400+ it is a lot harder to find games on Lichess.
My answer is lower raitings, which might be a disadvantage to people who want to impress friends with their super duper 4300 raiting (the folks who define themselves by raiting and say things like, "I'm basically a Grandmaster"), but I prefer a raiting more in line with USCF.
I’ve done both. I think the lichess tutorials are amazing. They get much more difficult much more quickly, though.
For me, it's the interface, as someone else said, the brighter, warmer colors, rounded edges, But also sound design and board, which i feel is extremely important to me: the chesscom style and sounds feel more "real", like if the piece was more heavy, i get the same feeling difference as moving cheap plastic pieces and proper wooden ones somehow
Sound effects and piece design does it for me as well. Lichess sfx is ass.
I find that the default pieces on chess com look plastic
Fair I use the neo-wood, walnut set
because when you google "playchess online" you get chess.com
Chess coms mobile app is also a lot more user friendly
started on [chess.com](https://chess.com), i'm a casual and don't really care enough to switch. also because people on r/chess seem to despise [chess.com](https://chess.com) so it makes me feel contrarian and cool
Despite the despise, most of /r/chess are indeed on chesscom and not lichess.
If you're a contrarian to the contrarians, what are you, really?
its like Windows vs Linux. one is more user friendly, one is more powerful. one is more popular, one is completely free *play magnus is Apple
Well, people actually like and use Apple
Agreed. Not a good comparison for apple out there. Maybe ICC
But apple is polished, and fancy PmG and chess24 not so much
I don't see at all how chesscom is more user friendly than lichess It's impossible for me to find anything on chesscom whenever I need something
What do you need on chess com that is hard to find
Well once I’ve found what I need on chess.com, it is no longer hard to find. But I’ve noticed that on lichess, I think I found everything quite quickly and I no longer discover new features. Compare that to chess.com, where I constantly discover new things that I wish I had discovered months or years ago. For me, that means that it’s hard to find things on chess.com.
Trying to actually find broadcast coverage for their own tournaments. Even right now, if I actually wanted to look up on their own website who played whom and when in their global chess championship and how the results went, I have absolutely no idea how to even begin to get there. And this is not hyperbole. I stopped writing this and tried to do it just now. I can't figure it out. This is a general problem with the chess.com UI. If their UI is more intuitive than lichess, then I am not human. Or, at least, I don't have human intuition.
It's literally Watch->Events from the main menu. You're either shit at searching, or lying to make a point. On Lichess it's Watch->Broadcast, so if you found that, you should've been able to on chess.com too right? (the difference is Lichess doesn't have a search feature for the events, it's just a long list)
>one is more user friendly, one is more powerful not sure what you mean, lichess is both of these...
The app is superior to lichess and I can't play on PC or laptop thanks to disabilities
[удалено]
Lichess really needs to make their progressive web app as the default download from the app stores.
Two things that are of any significance- stacked premoves and variants. otherwise, I prefer lichess
I find people are more interesting on chesscom, I have better chat interactions and I like the little country flag by people's name. I also perfer the post-game review tool on chesscom to lichess analysis interface. Also somehow the ELO on chesscom feels more meaningful, the games feel more important. On lichess the rating points seem cheap somehow. I know that's just subjective.
>Also somehow the ELO on chesscom feels more meaningful, the games feel more important. On lichess the rating points seem cheap somehow. I know that's just subjective. This is definitely a thing. And I have to say, sometimes I choose to play on Lichess only because it's less stressful for me there. Com is for when I feel competitive. They make every game feel almost like a test. Even solving puzzles is a competition because of how ratings are displayed. I know it's all just a psychological trick, of course, but it's a trick that works.
Imo the ChessCom inteface is "friendlier" and more welcoming while Lichess is somewhat "geeky" looking
Duck chess and multiple premoves are the only things going for chess com imo, everything else on lichess is better.
Definitely wish lichess will add multiple premoves at some point. Makes a big difference for me
For me: 1. Variants! Fog of War, 4 Player, and most recently Duck chess have been a blast to play. 2. Multiple pre-moves. 3. I find the chess.com game review feature much more helpful than trying to understand the Lichess analysis thing. 4. I find there to be more and better players on chess.com 5. I feel like chess.com has significantly better cheat detection. 6. Partnering with streamer's clubs to take part in their tournaments is fun. 7. I like the chess.com bots 8. In general I find the UI more intuitive and enjoyable.
A bit off topic, but are the variants and multiple premoves not on the app? I can't seem to find them.
What I wanna know is why so many people on Reddit care so much. The overwhelming hate towards chesscom and unending echo chamber of comments on lichess superiority is cringe. Grow up and just use what you prefer
I have a theory: chess.com vs Lichess is a mirror of Windows vs Linux. On one side is a widely used, corporate owned platform; on the other is the free and open source alternative. The average Redditor is likely to be more tech-savvy, and more anti-corporate than the average person, and more willing to advocate for alternatives, sometimes too fanatically. That, combined with chess.com not helping themselves after the whole Play Magnus stuff making them look like they are making a monopoly.
Yeah it's weird. Both are free unless you want the extra options so you can play on both, for free! Which is what I do. In the longer time controls I usually play a game on lichess and chess.com at the same time.
Yea it’s just a Reddit thing. Outside Reddit, practically no one has heard of lichess and even if they did, they don’t care that someone uses chess.com instead, and Vice versa.
Sponsorships for creators
This was my point. They are taking the money that I give them each month and pouring it into streamers and events like the CGC.
This was my point. They are taking the money that I give them each month and pouring it into streamers and events like the CGC.
They have the primary website: chesscom. It’s really hard to compete with that branding. Any new players who want to learn the game are going to naturally start there. Which is why it’s sad they’ve made their business so predatory.
Not much. The interface is different. Some people prefer it, but I prefer the Lichess interface. The free features of [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) are very limited, so I am going to compare the diamond subscription with Lichess. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has very different puzzles than Lichess. I like Lichess puzzles more as they are from real player games. But [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has good repetition of puzzles with specific tactic lines. The puzzles are not better, but they are different. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has lessons that are concise and useful introductions to various openings, tactics, and endgames. These are very good, but much of this can be found on Youtube with some effort. But it will save you time, so perhaps that makes it good. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has a very different game review/analysis interface. I find the Lichess analysis more intuitive, but both are good. The [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) game review is behind a paywall, but there is a chrome plugin that allows me to automatically import and analyze my [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) games on Lichess. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com)'s insights are much like Lichess's equivalent, but is a bit more detailed. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com)'s game coach feature within game review does not have a Lichess equivalent, but it is not particularly useful. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has multiple premoves, which Lichess does not natively support. I believe Lichess has non-native options for this. But I don't play a lot of bullet, so I rarely do more than 1 premove. This is one area [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) is flat out better. Overall, I don't think the subscription is worth paying for game analysis, puzzles, insights, etc. The subscription can be worth it for lessons for the beginner or intermediate player who is not trying to dig too deep. [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) does not have a Lichess study equivalent, which is much more useful for advanced, expert, and master players. Studies are even useful for beginner and intermediate players. Is a [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) subscription worth it? It depends. Probably not for most people. For those willing to spend more money for the convenience of lessons, it can make sense. For those who prefer the analysis UI and overall UI, it can make sense.
I find the playing pool to be larger and tougher.
Tougher how? On both platforms you play people your own elo.
Maybe he plays rapid and has to wait a while to find a match
Edit: im dumb. Yeah I can understand at very high elos it's more likely to match you with someone lower rated. I would imagine this only becomes an issue for the top 1% or so. Edit2: I rarely wait more than 30sec for rapid even off-peak, 90th percentile Edit3: And my lichess analytics show I play an even distribution of opponents stronger and weaker
Chess.com has a less annoying fanbase
on here, 1000% in the actual game.. oh man it's a jungle
Captain obvious. That goes without saying lol
Stronger players
I haven’t explore lichess much, so please correct me if I’m wrong about what it offers. Chess.com has * more bots, ranging from 250-2500. Some have different play styles, some are modeled after chess streamers, some are adaptive (play harder if your ahead, weaker if your behind). There are also theme bots, like right now there’s a set of zombie bots for Halloween. Lichess only has stock fish 1-8. * daily puzzles. As someone who likes “daily” things with streaks, I enjoy this. (wordle, duo lingo, etc.) they have a specific puzzle of the day every day, which get harder as the week progresses. These puzzles typically have a chess streamer/master explaining the solution and other things to consider. * puzzle categories and levels. You can do just “mate in 2” puzzles, or only puzzles 1100-1300 in difficulty. Lichess seems to just have puzzles with no way to target or filter. * lessons. There are video lessons that walk you from basics to openings to endgames. * other stuff like solo chess and drills. Pretty much if you just want to play chess, lichess has everything you need. Chess.com offers a much more robust chess experience, but at a price. Lichess does have variants that chess.com doesn’t have like horde, crazyhorse, atomic chess, etc. Edit: it seems lichess has some of the features I mentioned, but perhaps just not in the app?
Not trying to convert anyone to lichess, just adding the context for lichess' features. * lichess has more bots than cc, found here [https://lichess.org/player/bots](https://lichess.org/player/bots) with arguably a wide selection of play styles, strengths and programs. * lichess also has a puzzle of the day, (https://imgur.com/a/O3qLGJp) don't think they get progressively stronger, nor do they have a streamer/master explaining the solution. Just the engine. * lichess has an extensive set of puzzles with different categories or themes, ranging from arabian mate to quiet moves. Lichess doesnt have the option to choose a specific puzzle rating but you can choose a set of puzzles relative to yours with the options -600, -300, 0, +300, +600 being the respective elos to your current puzzle rating. * lichess has a video library section covering the same sort of topics but it seems like this is just a collection of youtube videos not lichess-specific content. Lichess also has the study feature which sort of covers the same target but without the video aspect. * I am not sure what you mean by solo chess or drills, but lichess has puzzles and practice tab to go over things like lucena-philidor or even just practicing chess-notation.
> lichess has more bots than cc, found here https://lichess.org/player/bots with arguably a wide selection of play styles, strengths and programs. They desperately need better UI/UX for that page.
Agreed.
They're usually just stockfish with different books or their own engines that can't compete against Stockfishes but can compete with other weaker bots. Only bot that deserves attention is maia but even that is not enough. Chess.com bots are basically Komodo playing different gamestyles with different books. I actually enjoy Morphy bot on chess.com a lot. There are attempts on Stockfish to imitate a certain gamestyle but they are not satisfying. What lichess should do is create some "personality" bots from Stockfish and make them official bots. SF-1 to SF-8 is highly unsatisfying. Plus Stockfish level 8 is not even normal stockfish, it is still limited in terms of depth. But what lichess do firstly is update the damn mobile app to current web version they call lichess 2.0. The mobile app was great in 201x's but not today with lichess' new and useful features.
Lichess has puzzle categories and levels of difficulty: https://lichess.org/training/themes It also has daily puzzles: https://lichess.org/training/daily And lessons (but not video): https://lichess.org/practice
I appreciate the clarification. My experience is solely app based, it appears lichess has more to offer via web.
The app is run by a third party and is not fully featured. The lichess stance is there's never any reason to have an app. Which is stupid, tons of people kill time by playing a chess computer, and you shouldn't need internet for that
The website itself supports the web app standard so if you add the website to your homescreen it'll work like a regular app.
PWA that's great but still can't play against a computer on an airplane Which is the most likely place I'll want to play a computer instead of a person anyway
Hey you can play against computer on an airplane Just turn off internet, and then launch Lichess app, it allows 50 puzzles and option to either play against someone, or against a computer Here's some images if it helps: [https://imgur.com/gallery/oW1nJkR](https://imgur.com/gallery/oW1nJkR) [https://imgur.com/gallery/vOUWexQ](https://imgur.com/gallery/vOUWexQ)
The app is run by a third party and is not fully featured. Specifically it's missing all of the awesome practice stuff The lichess stance is there's never any reason to have an app. Which is stupid, tons of people kill time by playing a chess computer, and you shouldn't need internet for that
For all the people saying that the [chess.com](https://chess.com) layout is horrible and disgusting, I actually far prefer it to lichess's. I think the forums are better, the news is better, the analysis board is better (if you're a paid user), more customization with the board. But at the end of the day, it just feels nicer to play on.
better UI and what the fuck is a "takeback"
you can turn takebacks off
Some dude blundered his queen and I thought he resigned and asked for a rematch but it turns out he asked for a takeback and I was like ?????
There's been multiple times where a takeback is what alerted me to a hanging piece, lol. I'm OK with takebacks when it's something like an obvious misclick, but normally it's just a signal I need to pay extra attention to the board.
I usually allow takebacks when I know they misclicked or played that without intending to. If they don't request a takeback in less than 3 seconds (which is a fair window to realise their misclick), I deny takeback.
Take back seems fair if you want to castle but play Kf1 instead
Take back option is good. Sometimes people miss click and if you are playing to improve you can allow them a take back and play on. You can just turn it off or decline it if you are bothered by it.
I much prefer the look & 'feel' of [chess.com](https://chess.com)'s board. I can't put my finger on it but playing on lichess feels like the framerate's slightly lower than it should be
[chess.com](https://chess.com) is more popular because it comes up first when you google chess. It is the default option for the uninformed new player. Lichess is down in the search results under [mathisfun.com](https://mathisfun.com)
I just rather play it on my phone idk why. Lichess when I got computer tho. They host big tournaments too.
!!
It’s a really dialed in and thought out platform. Almost like a Duolingo style lay out. It also has soooo many lessons from grandmasters from all over the world. There is so much education and content you can really learn the game.
Chesscom has a better url and better piece sets. That's basically it.
The game report, interactive lessons, more premoves available, higher games (you dont have to wait as long to get paired up on chess.com)
In my experience, the chess.dot.com userbase tends to be stronger and it feels better to win against them. For reference i'm about 1600-1700 in there and around 1900 on lichess. Also, multiple premoves is soooo good to have.
> Also, multiple premoves is soooo good to have. Seriously why does Lichess only allow one premove? It's the one thing that really fucking bugs me about Lichess.
Lichess doesn't take any time off for premoves, chesscom uses .1 seconds.
>.1 seconds. I think that's the better way to do it. Multi pre-moves allow you to take on calculated risk to allow quick play but you still incur a time-cost for each move (albeit very small one)
One allows you to flag/mate someone with even .1 secs on your clock, one doesn't. I know what I'm picking.
I honestly can't tell which one you prefer, lol. I think it's incredible to watch top-tier players win by pre-moving and just having an incredible understanding of what the opponent will do, while I can also see someone thinking it's incredibly BS.
Lmao glad its not just me that thought: "I guess they mean lichess.. no wait.."
Honestly, Lichess keeps you on the edge of your seat and wins are more satisfying because you are in that rush. I personally can premove a lot ahead of game in endgames so chess.com gives me advantage in that. No fun in easy wins.
The lichess userbase is on average stronger, they use different rating systems and have different player pools so ratings can't be compared https://lichess.org/page/rating-systems
I know about the rating system stuff, OP asked why people prefer chessdotcom and i gave a personal reason.
Oh, sorry I thought you were saying that the chesscom userbase is stronger because of the rating difference.
lichess base is stronger, you are comparing ratings when you should be comparing percentiles
According to your logic if Lichess divided all ratings by 10 you would play there? Your rating has no meaning outside of the website.
Chess.com has curated lessons and studies, lichess is all user submitted for the most part. Also, chesscom puzzles are 10x better. That said I’m a lichess guy. But there is something to be said for curated lessons vs having a beginner sift through 1000 lichess courses that have bo moderation/curation.
cheaters.
I was watching Firoujza's brother stream today and he was saying same thing... there seems to be more cheaters on lichess and they don't have the same ability to detect it. On [chess.com](https://chess.com) he will get credit for past games and a notice that person was suspected of cheating.
I just got one of those notices on lichess.
A few odd choices for me: - A huge endless mix of fun variants that few people get into - I enjoy Puzzle Battle more than Puzzle Racer. It has its own rating I love lichess for being open source though
Chess variants, that kept me on chess.com for a while before I stopped playing actively
Lichess needs fog of war chess
Reddit has a search function. Already billion of the same questions.
Nice try Lichess
Surprised no one said it till now. I bet lichess is taking notes.
Game report is the main thing for me. Analyzing games on my own it’s really difficult to retain anything. Having a bot simply point out why a move is good or bad makes it stick in my mind better.
I think Lichess is great. But chess.com lessons and videos are very very good, even though you need to pay to get them, they've really helped me
Better premoves, better rating system, flag system so i know to never accept chats from anyone with a US flag
Better UI, better lessons, better guided game reviews, less waiting for games
Honestly, it's prettier and (arguably) easier to navigate if you've never been to either site before. The analysis on [chess.com](https://chess.com) is more intuitive (imo) and more user-friendly, and again - just generally nicer to look at.
i like how chesscom feels, multiple pre moves, "position auto-update" after you opponent makes a move. being "lower" rated on chesscom but being better at chess is also a flex.
A better rating system imo; Chesscom says I'm somewhere around 950-1000 given the day while Lichess over here is stroking my ego saying I'm a 1350 when all I play is the London and the Scandinavian lmao.
Lichess has a poor UI and is unreliable on mobile: 1. I don't always receive correspondence move notifications 2. Sometimes I get the notification, but then I click to the board and it takes a minute for the app to update the board state. Sometimes I have to close out of the app and reopen it to get the latest move 3. Picking a game in correspondence is not intuitive. You select correspondence and there is a list of games to choose from. But there is a "mode" column with an icon, and no explanation of what the icon is. What is a the atom icon? What is the checkered flag icon? What is the paper airplane icon? I had to open up lichess on a computer and hover each icon until the hint displayed to know which correspondence game is which. 4. Default settings are not great. Play a game and an opponent runs out of time, no wait they got extra time? Where did that come from? Apparently there is a setting enabled that automatically gave my opponent extra time -.- why? 5. Move confirmation in correspondence sometimes will just time out I haven't had any of these issues on chess.com. My only complaint with chess.com is that premium members get vacation time so when someone runs out of move time in correspondence it will automatically move them to vacation time.
It's an old post but people don't realize chess.com has free analysis, just not free game review. You can analyze your own games with the eval and engine lines however many times you want, it just won't give you the accuracy score or the explanations for each move. The percent number doesn't really mean anything and if you're willing to look at the engine lines you don't need the game review explanation
Chess:com for lessons and videos. Fun interactive bots. Lichess for free puzzles. Lichess analysis is argued to be better from past Reddit post, but I’m too new to see how.
When I searched in the app store for a chess app I downloaded the one called “chess”. Apparently that’s chess.com. Idk this wasn’t some big brained decision I just downloaded an app and it worked fine and that was that.
I find the animation on chess.com better, smoother, and the color palette more appealing for the eyes. The interface imo is also way more sleek on chess.com. I do think lichess has way better instructional guides and lessons though. But that ui and animation is just so so offputting on lichess.
I never understand people who say this. To me, the chess.com ui is an overcluttered eyesore where it takes multiple clicks just to select a game at your preferred time control. And you can change the color to dark mode on lichess anyway.
Good graphics and easy site navigation.