lichess.org

@lichessorg

Lila is a free online chess game server focused on realtime gameplay and ease of use.

It features a search engine, computer analysis distributed with fishnet, tournaments, simuls, forums, teams, tactic trainer, a mobile app, and a shared analysis board. The UI is available in more than 80 languages thanks to the community.

Lichess is written in Scala 2.11, and relies on Play 2.3 for the routing, templating, and JSON. Pure chess logic is contained in scalachess submodule. The codebase is fully asynchronous, making heavy use of Scala Futures and Akka 2 actors. Lichess talks to Stockfish deployed in an AI cluster of donated servers. It uses MongoDB 2.6 to store more than 68 million games, which are indexed by elasticsearch. HTTP requests and websocket connections are proxied by nginx 1.6. Client-side is written in mithril.js. The blog uses a free open content plan from prismic.io.

Join us on #lichess IRC channel on freenode for more info. Use github issues for bug reports and feature requests.

Installation

If you want to add a live chess section to your website, you are welcome to embed lichess into your website. It's very easy to do.

This project source code is open for other developers to have an example of non-trivial scala/play2/mongodb application. You're welcome to reuse as much code as you want for your projects and to get inspired by the solutions I propose to many common web development problems. But please don't just create a public lichess clone. Instead, embed lichess using an <iframe> into your website.

Also note that if I provide the source code, I do not offer support for your lichess instance. I will probably ignore any question about lichess installation and runtime issues.

HTTP API

Feel free to use lichess API in your applications and websites.

If the resource you need is not available yet, drop us an email at contact@lichess.org and we'll discuss it.

API Limits

To respect the API servers and avoid an IP ban, please wait 1 second between requests. If you receive an HTTP response with a 429 status, please wait a full minute before resuming API usage.

Please do not automate computer analysis requests. They're very expensive.

GET /api/user/<username> fetch one user

> curl https://en.lichess.org/api/user/thibault

{
  "username": "thibault",
  "title": null,                             // chess title like FM or LM (lichess master)
  "url": "https://lichess.org/@/thibault",   // profile url
  "online": true,                            // is the player currently using lichess?
  "playing": "https://lichess.org/abcdefgh", // game being played, if any
  "engine": false,                           // true if the user is known to use a chess engine
  "language": "en",                          // prefered language
  "profile": {
    "bio": "Writes bugs for free",
    "country": "FR",
    "firstName": "Thibault",
    "lastName": "Duplessis",
    "location": "Paris"
  },
  "perfs": {                                 // user performances in different games
    "bullet": {
      "games": 35,                           // number of rated games played
      "rating": 1624,                        // Glicko2 rating
      "rd": 80,                              // Glicko2 rating deviation
      "prog": -13                            // progress over the last twelve games
    },
    "chess960": {
      "games": 1,
      "rating": 1739,
      "rd": 277,
      "prog": 33
    },
    "classical": {
      "games": 331,
      "rating": 1603,
      "rd": 65,
      "prog": 9
    },
    "kingOfTheHill": {
      "games": 3,
      "rating": 1622,
      "rd": 223,
      "prog": -62
    },
    "puzzle": {
      "games": 9,
      "rating": 902,
      "rd": 117,
      "prog": -328
    },
    "threeCheck": {
      "games": 1,
      "rating": 1662,
      "rd": 290
    }
  }
}

Example usage with JSONP:

$.ajax({
  url:'https://en.lichess.org/api/user/thibault',
  dataType:'jsonp',
  jsonp:'callback',
  success: function(data) {
    // data is a javascript object, do something with it!
    console.debug(JSON.stringify(data));
  }
});

GET /api/user fetch many users

> curl https://en.lichess.org/api/user?team=coders&nb=10&page=1

The team parameter is mandatory.

name	type	default	description
team	string	-	filter users by team
nb	int	10	maximum number of users to return per page
page	int	1	for pagination

{
  "currentPage": 3,
  "previousPage": 2,
  "nextPage": 4,
  "maxPerPage": 100,
  "nbPages": 43,
  "nbResults": 4348,
  "currentPageResults": [
    {
      ... // see user document above
    },
    ... // other users
  ]
}

Example usage with JSONP:

$.ajax({
  url:'https://en.lichess.org/api/user',
  data: {
    team: 'coders',
    nb: 100
  },
  dataType:'jsonp',
  jsonp:'callback',
  success: function(data) {
    // data is a javascript object, do something with it!
    console.debug(JSON.stringify(data.list));
  }
});

GET /api/user/<username>/games fetch user games

> curl https://en.lichess.org/api/user/thibault/games?nb=10&page=2

Games are returned by descendant chronological order. All parameters are optional.

name	type	default	description
nb	int	10	maximum number of games to return per page
page	int	1	for pagination
with_analysis	1 or 0	0	include deep analysis data in the result
with_moves	1 or 0	0	include a list of PGN moves
with_opening	1 or 0	0	include opening informations
with_movetimes	1 or 0	0	include move time informations
rated	1 or 0	-	rated games only
playing	1 or 0	-	games in progress only

{
  "currentPage": 3,
  "previousPage": 2,
  "nextPage": 4,
  "maxPerPage": 100,
  "nbPages": 43,
  "nbResults": 4348,
  "currentPageResults": [
    {
      "id": "39b12Ikl",
      "variant": "chess960", // standard/chess960/fromPosition/kingOfTheHill/threeCheck
      "speed": "blitz", // bullet|blitz|classical|unlimited
      "perf": "chess960", // bullet|blitz|classical|chess960|kingOfTheHill|threeCheck
      "rated": true,
      "status": "mate", // (1)
      "clock":{          // all clock values are expressed in seconds
        "initial": 300,
        "increment": 8,
        "totalTime": 620  // evaluation of the game duration = initial + 40 * increment
      },
      "createdAt": 1389100907239,
      "lastMoveAt": 1389100907239,
      "turns": 44,
      "color": "white", // color who plays next
      "url": "https://lichess.org/x2kpaixn",
      "winner": "black",
      "players": {
        "white": {
          "userId": "thibault",
          "name": "Thibault D", // only in the case of imported game
          "rating": 1642,
          "analysis": {
            "blunder": 1,
            "inaccuracy": 0,
            "mistake": 2
          },
        // rounded move times in tenths of seconds
        "moveTimes":[30,40,10,40,40,100,50,200,400,150,150,40,50,200,80]
        },
        "black": ... // other player
      }
      "analysis": [ // only if the with_analysis flag is set
        {
          "eval": -26, // board evaluation in centipawns
          "move": "e4"
        },
        {
          "eval": -8,
          "move": "b5"
        },
        {
          "eval": -66,
          "move": "Nfe3",
          "variation": "c4 bxc4 Nfe3 c5 Qf1 f6 Rxc4 Bb7 b4 Ba6"
        },
        // ... more moves
      ],
      "moves": "Nf3 d5 g3 e6 Bg2 Be7 d3 Nf6 Nbd2 O-O O-O c6 Rfe1 b6 e4 Bb7", // with_moves flag
      "opening": { // with_opening flag
        "code": "A07",
        "name": "King's Indian Attack, General"
      }
    },
    {
      ... // other game
    }
  ]
}

(1) All game statuses: https://github.com/ornicar/scalachess/blob/master/src/main/scala/Status.scala#L16-L25

GET /api/game/{id} fetch one game by ID

> curl https://en.lichess.org/api/game/x2kpaixn

A single game is returned. All parameters are optional.

name	type	default	description
with_analysis	1 or 0	0	include deep analysis data in the result
with_moves	1 or 0	0	include a list of PGN moves
with_movetimes	1 or 0	0	include move time informations
with_opening	1 or 0	0	include opening informations
with_fens	1 or 0	0	include a list of FEN states

{
  "id": "39b12Ikl",
  "initialFen": "rkrqnnbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKRQNNBB w KQkq - 0 1" // omitted is standard
  "variant": "chess960", // standard/chess960/fromPosition/kingofthehill/threeCheck
  "speed": "blitz", // bullet|blitz|classical|unlimited
  "perf": "chess960", // bullet|blitz|classical|chess960|kingOfTheHill|threeCheck
  "rated": true,
  "status": "mate", // (1)
  "clock":{          // all clock values are expressed in seconds
    "initial": 300,
    "increment": 8,
    "totalTime": 620  // evaluation of the game duration = initial + 40 * increment
  },
  "createdAt": 1389100907239,
  "lastMoveAt": 1389100907239,
  "turns": 44,
  "color": "white", // color who plays next
  "url": "https://lichess.org/x2kpaixn",
  "winner": "black",
  "players": {
    "white": {
      "userId": "thibault",
      "name": "Thibault D", // only in the case of imported game
      "rating": 1642,
      "analysis": {
        "blunder": 1,
        "inaccuracy": 0,
        "mistake": 2
      },
      // rounded move times in tenths of seconds
      "moveTimes":[30,40,10,40,40,100,50,200,400,150,150,40,50,200,80]
    },
    "black": ... // other player
  },
  "analysis": [ // only if the with_analysis flag is set
    {
      "eval": -26, // board evaluation in centipawns
      "move": "e4"
    },
    {
      "eval": -8,
      "move": "b5"
    },
    {
      "eval": -66,
      "move": "Nfe3",
      "variation": "c4 bxc4 Nfe3 c5 Qf1 f6 Rxc4 Bb7 b4 Ba6"
    },
    // ... more moves
  ],
  "moves": "Nf3 d5 g3 e6 Bg2 Be7 d3 Nf6 Nbd2 O-O O-O c6 Rfe1 b6 e4 Bb7", // with_moves flag
  "opening": { // with_opening flag
    "code": "A07",
    "name": "King's Indian Attack, General"
  }
  "fens": [ // only if with_fens flag is set
      "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/5N2/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKB1R",
      "rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/8/5N2/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKB1R",
      "rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/8/5NP1/PPPPPP1P/RNBQKB1R",
      "rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/8/5NP1/PPPPPP1P/RNBQKB1R",
      "rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/8/5NP1/PPPPPPBP/RNBQK2R",
      "rnbqk1nr/ppp1bppp/4p3/3p4/8/5NP1/PPPPPPBP/RNBQK2R",
      // ... more fens
  ]
}

(1) All game statuses: https://github.com/ornicar/scalachess/blob/master/src/main/scala/Status.scala#L16-L25

GET /game/export/{id}.pgn fetch one game PGN by ID

https://en.lichess.org/game/export/Qa7FJNk2.pgn

This returns the raw PGN for a game.

[Event "Rated game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/Qa7FJNk2"]
[Date "2014.06.12"]
[White "onpurplesz"]
[Black "LauraSchmidt"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1516"]
[BlackElo "1698"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "1020+0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[Opening "Italian Game, General"]
[WhiteClock ":11:9"]
[BlackClock ":14:6"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 { Italian Game, General } Qf6?! { (0.13 → 0.98) Inaccuracy. Best move was Nf6. } (3... Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O O-O 6. Bg5 Be7 7. a3 d6 8. h3 a6) 4. d3 h6 5. Be3 d6 6. h3?! { (0.84 → 0.31) Inaccuracy. The best move was Nc3. } (6. Nc3 Be6 7. Nd5 Qd8 8. d4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 c6 11. Nc3 Bxc4 12. Qxc4 Nf6 13. O-O Be7) 6... a6 7. Nbd2 Be6 8. Qe2 Bxc4 9. Nxc4 Nge7 10. a3 Nd4?! { (0.29 → 0.79) Inaccuracy. The best move was O-O-O. } (10... O-O-O 11. O-O g5 12. a4 Bg7 13. Bd2 Kb8 14. Rae1 Qe6 15. b4 f5 16. b5 fxe4) 11. Bxd4 exd4 12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Rhe1 O-O-O 14. e5 dxe5 15. Nfxe5 Nxe5 16. Qxe5 Qxe5? { (0.35 → 1.78) Mistake. The best move was Qxf2. } (16... Qxf2 17. Re2 Qf6 18. Qxf6 gxf6 19. Rf1 Bg7 20. Nd2 h5 21. Ne4 Rhe8 22. Ref2 Re5 23. b3 Rdd5 24. Kb2) 17. Nxe5 Rg8?! { (1.76 → 2.32) Inaccuracy. The best move was Rd7. } (17... Rd7 18. Nxd7 Kxd7 19. Re4 c5 20. c3 dxc3 21. bxc3 Bd6 22. Kc2 b5 23. a4 Ra8 24. d4 Kc6 25. dxc5) 18. Nxf7 Rd7? { (2.35 → Mate in 2) Checkmate is now unavoidable. The best move was Rd5. } (18... Rd5 19. Re8+ Kd7 20. Rde1 Bb4 21. Rxg8 Bxe1 22. Rxg7 Bxf2 23. Nxh6+ Kc6 24. Kd1 Rb5 25. b3 Rh5 26. Nf7) 19. Re8+ { Black resigns } 1-0

GET /api/tournament fetch current tournaments

Returns tournaments displayed on the schedule: https://lichess.org/tournament

> curl https://en.lichess.org/api/tournament

{
  "created": [
    {
      "id": "f4wnl48m",
      "createdBy": "thedave13213",
      "system": "arena",
      "minutes": 45,
      "clock": {
        "limit": 120,
        "increment": 0
      },
      "position": null,
      "rated": true,
      "fullName": "Ulrich Arena",
      "nbPlayers": 1,
      "private": false,
      "variant": {
        "key": "standard",
        "short": "Std",
        "name": "Standard"
      },
      "secondsToStart": 38,
      "startsAt": 1471257146633,
      "finishesAt": 1471259846633,
      "status": 10,
      "schedule": null,
      "winner": null,
      "conditions": null,
      "perf": {
        "icon": "T",
        "name": "Bullet",
        "position": 0
      }
    }
  ],
  "started": [
    ...
  ],
  "finished": [
    ...
  ]
}

JSONP is available.

GET /api/tournament/<tournamentId> fetch one tournament

Returns tournament info, and a page of the tournament standing

name	type	default	description
page	int	1	for standing pagination

curl 'https://en.lichess.org/api/tournament/x5WNIngd?page=1'

{
  "clock": {
    "increment": 0,
    "limit": 300
  },
  "createdBy": "lichess",
  "fullName": "Hourly Blitz Arena",
  "id": "x5WNIngd",
  "isFinished": true,
  "isStarted": false,
  "minutes": 56,
  "nbPlayers": 128,
  "next": {
    "finishesAt": null,
    "id": "dNivtcYG",
    "name": "Hourly SuperBlitz Arena",
    "nbPlayers": 0,
    "perf": {
      "icon": ")",
      "name": "Blitz"
    },
    "startsAt": "2016-08-15T11:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "startsAt": "2016-05-25T22:00:00.000Z",
  "system": "arena",
  "variant": "standard",
  "verdicts": {
    "accepted": true,
    "list": []
  }
  "pairings": [
    {
      "id": "gtFxbHU8",
      "s": 3,
      "u": ["nimsraw", "Ernom"]
    },
    {
      "id": "oyl3n1bB",
      "s": 3,
      "u": ["esparzaesc72", "athletics_champ"]
    },
    ...
  ],
  "perf": {
    "icon": ")",
    "name": "Blitz"
  },
  "podium": [
    {
      "name": "athletics_champ",
      "nb": {
        "berserk": 0,
        "game": 7,
        "win": 7
      },
      "performance": 2297,
      "rank": 1,
      "rating": 2100,
      "ratingDiff": 37,
      "score": 24,
      "sheet": {
      "fire": true,
      "scores": [
        [2, 2],
        ...
      ]
    },
    ...
  ],
  "schedule": {
    "freq": "hourly",
    "speed": "blitz"
  },
  "standing": {
    "page": 1,
    "players": [
      {
        "name": "athletics_champ",
        "rank": 1,
        "rating": 2100,
        "ratingDiff": 37,
        "score": 24,
        "sheet": {
          "fire": true,
          "scores": [
            [2, 2 ],
            ...
          ]
        }
      },
      ...
    ]
  }
}

JSONP is available.

Credits

See the lichess Thanks page

Supported browsers

• Firefox, 6 months old or newer
• Chrome, 6 months old or newer

These two are the best, hands down. Use them if you can.

We also do our best to support:

• Internet Explorer 11
• Microsoft Edge
• Opera 34 and newer
• Safari 9 and newer

Others and older browsers are guaranteed not to work with lichess and we don't care.

Licence

Lila is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License 3 or any later version at your choice with an exception for Highcharts. See COPYING for details.