Lichess
Free, open-source online chess server for playing, puzzles, lessons, and game analysis.
HN commenters love Lichess for its mobile web version and PWA12, its puzzles and lessons3, and quick bullet and blitz games.45 Complaints are few: one commenter misses bughouse and Chess.com-style custom variants6, and another worries the brand could be absorbed by corporate money.7
Why people recommend it
Mobile and PWA · 2
The mobile site and PWA are well liked, with one user preferring the PWA over the app.
“I use Lichess pwa, i prefer it over their app.”
“lichess.org's mobile version is great”
Fast time controls · 2
Bullet and 3+0/5+0 blitz games are fun, quick, and need little time.
“Play bullet chess on Lichess!”
“I hit about 2k Elo on lichess playing the 3+0/5+0”
Strong affection · 2
Some commenters express deep fondness for the site and hope it stays independent.
“Love Lichess.”
“I love Lichess more than anything”
Puzzles and lessons · 1
Besides worldwide play, it offers puzzles, lessons, and a sense of improving over time.
“lichess.org's mobile version is great”
Board tools · 1
Its demo board is handy for tracking a position on the side.
“I used a Lichess demo board to track the position in another tab”
Reusable assets · 1
A developer building a Thai chess server plans to reuse several Lichess assets.
“inspired by lichess.org, in fact, I plan to use several of their assets”
Caveats and dissent
Missing variants · 1
It lacks bughouse and the custom variant creation that Chess.com offers.
“Love Lichess.”
Independence concerns · 1
One fan worries the brand could be subsumed by corporate money.
“I love Lichess more than anything”
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Lichess and Take Take Take Sign Cooperation Agreement 2 mentions
- Why I'm still bearish on LLMs after Navier-Stokes 1 mention
- Stockfish 19 1 mention
- Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026) 1 mention
- Ask HN: Do you use web apps on your smartphone? 1 mention
- Ask HN: Best worldwide / classic phone games? 1 mention
Data: lichess.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 8
“I used a Lichess demo board to track the position in another tab”
“I hit about 2k Elo on lichess playing the 3+0/5+0”
“inspired by lichess.org, in fact, I plan to use several of their assets”
“I use Lichess pwa, i prefer it over their app.”
“lichess.org's mobile version is great”
“Love Lichess.”
“I love Lichess more than anything”
“Play bullet chess on Lichess!”