The Story of Lichess

August 23, 2024 8:59 AM

The Story of Lichess [YT] - You may know that lichess.org is a popular, free chess server. How did it start? How did it grow? How does it stay free?
posted by Wolfdog (11 comments total)

I remember stumbling across lichess back when it was a little experiment with then hip new technology. (scala, stream processing, akka, play) It's amazing how it grew from that humble beginning and held its own against commercial apps en companies.
posted by jouke at 9:45 AM on August 23

Lichess is a simple bridge between my father and me. We keep a little game running and chat back and forth. Since we're neither social media people, it's been a great way to easily keep in touch as we both age.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:03 AM on August 23 [2 favorites]

easy way to skim
2:34 b4 - g8
posted by HearHere at 10:31 AM on August 23

I, for one, mourn the text web. I get that the video format allows better ad revenue

Text based links to a brief history and the donation page can be found on the lichess.org website!
posted by grog at 11:34 AM on August 23

For those reading the title too quickly (like me), there is no Vecna here. Just chess.
posted by The Bellman at 11:35 AM on August 23 [13 favorites]

Yeah I read that word and automatically read it as a lich who hasn't yet graduated to lich queen yet. Or promoted to queen, given the context.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 11:54 AM on August 23 [6 favorites]

I've always figured it was an elision of duchess and lich, a lichess. So yes, one down from queen lich.
posted by bonehead at 12:25 PM on August 23 [1 favorite]

But here we have a 30 minute video of information hidden behind a donation of 30 minutes of time to the advertising overlords

Did anybody else find that the ads on this video in particular were batshit? Like, advertising several different medical scams? Way more so than my everyday YT experience, and a bizarre contrast to the content.
posted by atoxyl at 1:06 PM on August 23

One of the great things about lichess compared to chess.com is the sheer volume of user-generated chess studies. If you want to learn an opening or some interesting lines, find a study and dig in. Chess.com has some learning content but is comparitively introductory and thin.

Lichess is also useful for research -- unlike chess.com, their line-exploration tool lets you see statistics on all (lichess) games, not just masters games. You can even practice against the computer based on lines reached in real games.

I still prefer the chess.com interface, but lichess has some killer features and an awesome community.
posted by swift at 1:33 PM on August 23

this has interviews with various people involved with the site, it’s not just a guy reading a script like your average YouTube ”documentary”
posted by atoxyl at 6:18 PM on August 23

Mod note: A couple removed. Please just skip video content if you don't like video. I've added a YT note to the post.
posted by taz (staff) at 9:32 PM on August 23