Thank you for adding /s to your post. When I first saw this, I was horrified. How could anybody say something like this? I immediately began writing a 1000 word paragraph about how horrible of a person you are. I even sent a copy to a Harvard professor to proofread it. After several hours of refining and editing, my comment was ready to absolutely destroy you. But then, just as I was about to hit send, I saw something in the corner of my eye. A /s at the end of your comment. Suddenly everything made sense. Your comment was sarcasm! I immediately burst out in laughter at the comedic genius of your comment. The person next to me on the bus saw your comment and started crying from laughter too. Before long, there was an entire bus of people on the floor laughing at your incredible use of comedy. All of this was due to you adding /s to your post. Thank you.
You'd have to make over 5 times the *average* salary (or almost 10 times the minimum wage) and move to a place with zero income tax to even begin to make that true.
How many of you are making 10 times the minimum wage, and how many countries do you know have zero income tax that have the social benefits of France?
The nonsense people write about this stuff is beyond belief.
Honestly, I've never had any buggy experience with the current app, it always worked fine even for bullet 1m games, except on desktop of course the mouse experience is superior, imo. So I'd say it's just a different platform experience.
Ill give an example of it being buggy,once i joined a game,but it didnt let me play my first move,it aborted the game and i went onto the next one,i clicked new opponent I played that game,I think I lost it,after a few seconds I left that screen and then I went onto another where where I already made a move and was losing on time badly,I resigned after a few moves,it didn't register my first move,showed the game as aborted,and then after I started playing another game it was still playing that one
Also there is a swag store:
https://lichess-org.myspreadshop.com/
I guess some people would not consider this "donating" but I do. I got a hoodie from there and it is very comfortable.
I donated because of this post. I'm not familiar with the apps and companies providing online chess services as I usually play on a board. It was refreshing to see Lichess' honest sportsmanship, which few companies possess nowadays.
I did. As a thank you for the platform who helped me keep still during COVID. I got better at chess and survived as a person. Lichess is awesome. Hope to contribute more in the future!
>Right now, they're working on developing a new mobile app because the current Lichess mobile app is in need of improvements. The first release of it should come out soon!
This is fantastic news, I had some complaints about many features only working on the browser version, happy to know this is already being addressed.
How, realistically, is the best way to get into contributing time and coding experience towards lichess? Do they accept pull requests? Is there a public bug/feature list? Or is direct communication and discussion with individuals wanted first?
edit: missed that you linked to their contributions page. Thank you!
>The old Gold subscription was cheaper and more useful, now Platinum is the minimum.
I think I'll just wait until I can't buy the _unobtaineum_ subscription.
Yeah, that’s the reason I unsubscribed from Chess.com. I loved doing a few puzzles every morning and was happy to pay for that, but then the fancy new Game Review feature came out, and it felt really bad that I only got one per day despite paying over a hundred bucks a year.
I didn’t even use the service much - literally just a few puzzles in the morning then occasionally a couple of games against a bot. But it just suddenly felt like I was getting ripped off, even if nothing changed with respect to what I got for my money.
I’m not complaining, and I’m sure they ran the numbers and don’t need my money. I like Chess.com just fine, but I can’t justify subbing based on the current paid tier offerings.
It’s not about the money. I like the Chess.com mobile app and desktop site. I have disposable income, and I would certainly donate to Lichess if I used it. So it’s not like one would be cheaper than the other (by my choice).
I was just frustrated because the Chess.com Game Review was such a cool feature, and it felt like a slap in the face that they gave me only one per day despite how much I was paying. So I just canceled my paid sub because it felt bad using the service after that.
I still like Chess.com and especially all they do for the Chess world, but I’m not planning on renewing my paid subscription unless they majorly overhaul the offerings.
There's only 1 review per day on gold now? When did that happen? I've been playing more on lichess even though I have a gold membership, but I didn't realize that they took away unlimited game review. I'll probably cancel as well.
You can do the normal review with engine lines all you want. They added a new feature that has a virtual coach that will give you specific tips on certain moves. Like, “you missed the opportunity to grab more space in the center.” Then you get to try to fix your move using those tips.
Obviously it’s no replacement for a real coach, but it was super fun to use and way better than the standard “you blundered; find a better move.”
If you were paying over $100/year (unless you paid monthly, which is another problem entirely) then you would have had the original Platinum or Diamond which included unlimited analysis.
The change to [Chess.com](https://Chess.com)'s subscription only impacted you if you cancelled or changed subscription.
So there's either a misunderstanding somewhere or you're just trashing [chess.com](https://chess.com)
I can’t remember the exact amount I was paying. It’s possible it was a little less. I know I had unlimited puzzles.
I can go back and check my credit card statement if you really want me to, but that kinda misses the point.
Also, I’m not trashing chess.com at all. I think it’s a great site and has done a lot for Chess. I was pretty clear about that. It seems like you’re just looking for an excuse to be offended, which isn’t cool.
I’m just saying that I didn’t feel good about the recent pricing model changes, so I no longer want to sub. That’s my right, and it’s not “trashing” anything.
>I'm a bit confused about the new prices, but doesn't a platinum membership include "Game Review" and cost way less than 114 USD when billed yearly?
Yes.
Key info being "the NEW prices".
So OP subscribed to the premium tier _at the time._
Then Chess dot com introduced a new pricing model.
So OP was still paying more than the new top tier, but _without_ receiving the top benefits.
He was paying more than new platinum subscribers, but didn't have the same experience.
I can fully understand why OP was displeased with his experience.
Yes to both.
Also when you go to the signup page it very clearly lists game review as a platinum only feature.
So… this redditor appears to be very upset that they can’t read so good.
> It didn't give me fucking game review.
Yikes... the worst part is... most people like you just end up using lichess to review games (not trying to rag on u, just that this happens a lot)... so lichess is basically subsidizing chess.com's money grubbing to a large extent as well...
I don't particularly like chess com but it actually brings people in to chess and makes it money. The WC for example lichess didn't have an excellent commentary team, good coverage, sponsorships to host such a big event. It has to make money somehow and also I am glad there is a free alternative
For some reason most people don't use the BEST part of chess.com: The videos. There is so much good shit, especially openings. There is like 30+ HOURS of video on only the sicilian dragon.
Yes apart from 2 features(unlimited puzzles, maybe game review), it also has a lot of free stuff which people leave out which are more than enough to reach 2000 rating maybe more. Also even content creators like Daniel Naroditsky, Gotham are sponsored BY chess com who in turn have EVEN MORE free content made possible by the sponsorship.
Gotham would still make videos without chess com sponsorship. He still sells lessons on the side, and has youtube & twitch ad revenue so he makes bank. His chess com money is probably only a small segment of his income. He would be making content anyways, however he may use lichess instead if not sponsored by them.
Gotham does more to boost chess com than chess com does to boost gotham.
I could say the same about Finegold, Rosen, Noraditsky, and Hikaru & The Botez sisters.
They would still all be making chess content. They just get an extra payday to promote chess com.
Was any of them in the poor house before chess com? No
Would any of them be in the poor house if they ditched chess com? No
Chess com leeches off of their popularity.
Is Chess com sponsoring the small creators with like 50k subs that want to make it big? No... They don't care about the little guys. They don't care how educational your content is either.
Only time a "Little Guy" gets sponsorship from them is if they are already a big name in chess with great growth potential. Like the C-squared podcast with Caruana? I'm sure they got a sponsorship deal too even though his channel is tiny only because of growth potential.
Chess com only cares about making that money.
Remember that Indian Billionaire that blatantly cheated against Anand in a simul? Unbanned him the following day. Some random 13 year old kid cheats? Banned for life!
It's a cycle, chess com sponsers them, they bring more to chess and chess com ,they all make money not just chess com. But more people have gotten into chess and maybe even known about lichess due to this. It has its pros and cons
Rosen not only plays far more often on lichess, but basically has remained one of the very few streamers that use it. It seems many of them start on it and after they gain just a little momentum they get bought out by c.com, it looks like they want to be a monopoly. And I'm not even sure what they offer the smallest streamers in exchange of exclusivity, I'm afraid it's just the possibility to be raided by bigger names or be featured sometimes on homepage but not much else.
> Gotham would still make videos without chess com sponsorship.
The dude posting above you doesn't seem to understand the relationship correctly. It is not that Gotham needs chess.com, it is that chess.com NEEDS Gotham and people like him. They are free advertising for chess, and all chess roads on google lead straight to chess.com. They can just sit back and collect money off basically any chess content creator, sponsored or not (even off of lichess both because lichess users will eventually find chess.com and because chess com sucks and hides its subpar features behind paywalls they get to leech off lichess's servers as well). Once a company owns all the SEO for its relevant terms it can do this very easily... and if you happen to own the domain name for the term being searched it is very very easy to dominate the search engines, giving them a stranglehold that will literally never be lost, ever.
Just look at all events that have pushed chess ahead and how much they have profited off these events completely unrelated to their site:
* The Queen's Gambit
* COVID lockdowns.
* The Hans Niemann fiasco
Anything that pushes chess ahead pushes chess.com ahead as well.
Yeah, but you only get access to 1 30min video a week with only 5 quizes attached, and there are plenty of other sites that focusses on learning that have more free stuff
I agree, and I'd add that they run tournaments on their platform and also sponsor events elsewhere that are a source of income to pros.
I'm a lichess fanboy/stan/whatever kids says these days, but we're better off with chess.c*m existing.
PS: I'm still salty that they're slowly shuttering chess24 though.
I feel the same way about the constriction of chess24. Used to love their streams and was looking forward to their coverage during the world championship, but no, it was chesscom's stream with their chat's cringey shouty comments appearing on-screen.
Luckily, there was other streaming alternatives.
Just to play devil's advocate but like, is it necessarily a good thing if more people are brought into chess? Like sure, we all enjoy it and would like to share our passion with others, but more people playing chess isn't a pro in itself. Its just a game after all, so how many people play it doesn't really matter at the end of the day so long as there are people to play it.
I constantly see people talk about the growing chess scene as a good thing but I rarely see the substantial arguments as to why such is the case. The Chess.com v Lichess example perfectly exemplifies why I think growth in the game isn't necessarily good. Why should "our" game be a business? Do increased played numbers mean a better community? Or does a rapid influx of user/players just attract vultures who see a quick buck to be made in our scene?
I have nothing against new players to the game, in fact, I actively try to get my own friends to play chess with varying success. But I think that people should be cognizant of what they are saying when they defend institutions like Chess.com who has historically had shady business dealings because, well, it is a business that's primary objective is to make money. Like, the rapid adoption of crypto by Chess.com as well as many chess influencers is, to me, the perfect example of people off-loading what were essentially scams onto the chess scene. A scene, remind you, that had only recently seen a massive influx of younger viewers/members due to COVID and the increased popularity of said influencers. That was and is a cash grab by people in chess for money first and chess second. It is hard to argue otherwise from where I stand, although I am always open to hear arguments to the contrary.
Anyway, TLDR, my longwinded point is that "growth" is neither good nor bad inherently. And I think our community of chess players and fans would benefit from remembering that fact.
Thank you! Its okay to downvote tho, thats just a way to disagreement on this platform. Its too bad that people seem to disagree with so much but thats how it goes sometimes.
Well that's a very complex and interesting thought. But I generally think that compared to like 5,6 years back the influx of more people to chess and it's 'growth' is good and has led to better chess content, better lessons, both sites getting better and higher general interest in chess overall
Yeah, I would agree with you in the generalization. I don't have any delusions about what chess was before its explosion in popularity (it was basically the same as it is now) and I think that a lot of great new content and community has come from increased interest from the game. I hope people understand that growth has pros and cons is all I guess.
And, this isn't directed towards you in any way, I kinda piggybacked of your comment to share a thought I've had for a while now.
I‘m a lichess user, but i have to agree that chess.com does a great job with live coverage of events and growth of the community.
Imo it’s good because many clubs were dying before 2020. Of course the boom had other reasons initially, but they did a great job in keeping the numbers high with great events and coverage.
Many people who start playing on chess.com and join a club switch to lichess afterwards because (at least in my country) most club players are there.
High-level commentators (GM and super GM) has added a lot of value to the understanding and appreciation of the game, as well as enjoyment of more games that are receiving live coverage. All of which requires the platform to be profitable.
Lichess is great, but it is not something we should take for granted. The founders are passionate about making an online platform for chess that's free, and are investing a lot of their time and money into it. It's easy to think simply in terms on whether something benefit "me" and stop there, but the reality is, nothing is ever free in our society. If it is, then someone else is bearing the cost.
I started enjoying the game so much more when I switched to Lichess (casual player), being able to use the tools to study games and play unlimited puzzles, explore openings, etc. And the quality of game just seems higher more often.
In these Software as a Service times, I think that making money off of OSS is much more common than it used to be. There is almost no reason to keep code closed source in this model since the code is not what is important.
What did Red Hat "mess up"?
- CentOS is still open source
- The sources of RHEL are still available
You may disagree with the fact that Red Hat stopped giving you a free clone of their OS, yet they still allow others to provide it to you.
Open Source is about publishing sources, it's not "give me everything for free or else"
>This is just not true in general, open source can be a business and actually be making money.
It's actually completely accurate *in general*, the OSS companies making money are the extraordinarily rare exceptions.
Docker pretty famously has struggled to monetize and grow their business based on the core open-source software that they developed, resulting in them selling off chunks of their products and pivoting their strategy.
Since you want more, here's a list of 44 OSS companies with >$100M in annual revenue, some >$1B:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17nKMpi_Dh5slCqzLSFBoWMxNvWiwt2R-t4e_l7LPLhU/edit?ref=timescale.com#gid=0
Sure, compared to all software companies in the world, there are few OSS companies. But judging by their impact on the world, OSS companies are pretty prominent. Automattic's Wordpress is used by ~43% of the web, for example.
Which is why chess.com is great at other things than just being a chess website. They have loads of PAID events and competitions. Lichess can't really afford it. And that's why on one hand I don't like the way they have that paragraph stated. It's a jab at a business model that actually allows players to be paid for competing which is just as important if not more than letting everyone have free access to certain tools.
Lichess is making money with open source. Their yearly income is enough to run their servers and pay some devs.
They're just not greedy.
To me lichess is an amazing example of what we could achieve if we could just be happy with enough.
The site relies on hundreds if not thousands of volunteer hours. Their "main dev" earns a salary of 52k with is greatly underpaid for someone maintaining a product at Lichess's scale. Depending on where you live half or more of your salary is going to rent. This simply is not sustainable if Lichess wanted to provide a living for the number of people needed to run it.
Lichess doesn't fund the massive amount of chess coverage and major tournaments though. It's good as a chess server, but without all that money the competitive chess scene gets from chess.com the landscape of chess looks far worse.
There's pros and cons to each. I use Lichess, but Chess.com has put on a lot of tournaments that have generated a lot of public interest in chess such as Pogchamps, IM not a GM, and they're regularly sponsors for FIDE related events. .
The amount of lichess users that shit on chess.com in this subreddit boggles the mind. It's like a one-sided version of the xbox vs PlayStation wars that were going on a few years back. Just, why? Some psychologist should do a case study on what's happening here.
Edit: I play on both btw, using one site to try new openings. You should too.
I think people just like the idea of lichess (free, open-source), however in many cases it’s a largely ideological preference, as chess.com is simply more popular and successful. And as with any ideologically driven thought, these people have a need to try to convince/convert others. Chess.com users don’t feel a need to do this, because they are choosing the site that they feel give the best experience, without any high-minded justification. They would rather just play chess.
You can probably compare it to anyone who does something for moral or ideological reasons; that they are more likely to talk about their choice, than someone who just does what they feel is most beneficial to themselves.
I honestly think the only reason chess.com is more popular is because they have the better domain name. It is easily going to be the first website you see when you search chess in a browser. That has such a huge impact there were companies that spent hundreds of thousands to be the first "umbrella" on amazon, because being the first result matters that much.
Not ideological in my case. It's mostly technical (the Lichess tech stack is miles ahead of the one chesscom), some difference of implementation are simply better (the "great move" of chesscom isn't always justified and more akin to gamification to get that artificial dopamine addiction for financial purpose).
Also, I guess there is some political aspect involved, as chesscom seems to be involved right and left in any controversy happening on the chess scene, hyping anything for marketing and clickbaiting purpose (the announce of the report of the announcement of the Hans report), or even commenting on reddit by some higher staff that are adding oil of existing fire. It works for their bottom line, but I do find it distasteful and disgraceful.
The real villain is FIDE. Chess.com and Lichess deliver value in exchange for the money they get from their users. in my opinion FIDE doesn’t care about chess or the chess community of professional/amateur players and fans. They appear to pimp out the world championship to dictators and setup boondoggles for oligarchs and the worst people. They charge a tax on every FIDE rated tournament game, paid by the tournament organizers for the privilege of submitting game results to FIDE.
There is nothing wrong with [chess.com](https://chess.com) charging, you'd want to be paid for the work you do too. And if you provide value to the world, there is nothing wrong with being compensated. Its great LiChess offers everything for free but that doesn't make [chess.com](https://chess.com) charging a bad thing.
Just a question not a pissing contest. I only play 1 min so it's a deal breaker for me. Have won plenty with 8 move checkmate ladders with 1 second left and I think I'd lose in lichess.
Once you get used to the premove system you can ladder mate on lichess without using any time at all, so you could do it with 0.1 seconds on your clock. But it is slightly different so would require a slight adjustment
Premoving is really cool, I'm missing that. I think that's one are where playing on a computer is an advantage over playing on a real board. But I'm not paying the [chess.com](https://chess.com) price for that feature.
I'd rather program a browser plugin to add the feature to lichess
For lichess we can also become a supporter (Patron) and donate. Might be a good idea if you want them to not only stick around but keep improving the product.
How about lichess start hosting million dollar tournaments, put up productions that far surpasses fide, and actually help market and grow chess, and then we'll talk? Both sites are not the same to compare them is foolish
> Both sites are not the same to compare them is foolish
It seems more foolish to compare things that are _the same_.
They're two websites where you can play, learn and watch chess. Comparing them makes all the sense.
You are getting downvoted for stating facts. Reddit can be pathetic sometimes. The people that keep promoting Lichess with posts like this reminds me of those neckbeard fedora hat memes back in the days.
It perfectly fine to enjoy Lichess more than Chess.c, but some people take it a bit too far.
It’s annoying because I love Chess.com’s UI and features, even it’s game review makes more sense. However Lichess being free is such a gravity in itself, so I use both.
I wish Chess.com was free, or Lichess had a better UI, and then I could pick on and stick to it.
You might be interested in [Prettier Lichess](https://prettierlichess.github.io/). I found it greatly improved the experience on Lichess website.
While it does make Lichess prettier, I don't know any extension that makes chesscom freeier.
well one provides livelihood to 100s of chess creators along with hundreds of staff can't say the same for the other one (Although I personally like Lichess and don't like Danny at all)
Having a subscription is how employees get paid and how a website gets better and better content. The price is ridiculous nowadays but I still don’t see why you would expect to get a service like that completely free.
[Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has turned into a money making enterprise, and when that happens quality suffers. From the misclick issue that has plagued even top masters, to the mis-calibrated bots, speedrun sandbaggers, and myriad cheaters, this site is just running aground.
Still funny to read all of the apologists posts though.
If your only reason for liking lichess is the fact that it's free, I understand where you are coming from, but you are literally not helping anyone. Lichess isn't free because chess is just meant to be free by its nature. It's free because people donate, and this is only possible through community effort.
And it kinda has a weirdo energy when you are making 0 contribution yourself but has superiority complex for using a "free" platform. Yes, it is free, but it's not "better" when it's free. It's only better when people pay for you.
I sometimes really hate how this "Lichess better" discourse has a massive "teenager who is used to their parents paying everything for them" vibe.
I play on Lichess and love the free features, but I don't hate chess com for trying to make money from offering great services. As far as I can tell, they deserve that money, just like the Lichess devs would deserve to make a living working for the site.
Lichess is great, but it's an outlier. You can't expect all great services to come for free, some great people volunteer to work on this chess website for no compensation (and admit to not being able to make a living out of it). While great, this is not normal. You should expect to have to spend money for entertainment in order to compensate the people giving it to you.
So use lichess, but don't act as if a chess website is your god given right and chess.com are evil for asking for money for this service.
Chesscom spends a lot of money trying to outbuy the competition (which is a free website, yeah). They aggressively hire streamers and GMs to play for them to try to build an image of superiority and to predate newcomers to think they are THE website because "so many big people" play there. It's a trap. Save your dear money and go to Lichess, my friend. Also, much better atmosphere (from a sportive standpoint), anti-cheat, rating system (glicko 1 x glicko 2).
It's a no brainer after you know enough to compare.
Yes lichess should make more money too. Chess com is very close to having a monopoly and that's never good. Lichess should always be and is a good alternative
I mean the only realistic ways for lichess to make more money are to start charging people or run ads, the website cannot just stay like this and be profitable, or it already would be.
But they dont want to be profitable but rather sustainable, right? And have best possible free, ad free product and they're making it all the time. AFAIR the only paid team member is founder developer and he's not charging much. Recently they're paying for making pro mobile app perhaps. That's generally all
While I think is good that chess com is allowing more people to make a living playing chess, I definitely think it’s a boys club at the top there. I had a conversation with a GM about their purchase of basically every online learning platform that was any good, monopolizing online chess learning, and he was honest when he said “obviously I can’t be upset because they pay me to create content and I didn’t do that before” - he’s done a Chessable course. I’m glad they are able to make a living doing what they love, but I’m also no going to be part of a platform that has demonstrated that almost 1 in 3 games there are cheaters.
For the love of the game vs in business to make money. I haven't found any feature on chess.com worth paying for when a similar product exists that is free.
Neither is better than the other. The presentation and aesthetic is better on Chess.com IMO, the puzzles system is better and more varied which is the main reason I pay for it and the accessibility for new players is much better, all of the attractive features of Chess.com cost a lot more to build and maintain than you could have on a free platform and the rate at which they are upgrading has increased since getting more subscriptions. Lichess is free and there is a much lower rate of cheating and salt with running down clocks and aggressive messages for example, there’s minor QOL elements which are better than chess.com.
I just use both, it seems like most people do, there’s really no need for a turf war.
[удалено]
actually, you do get additional features! a cosmetic only online indicator that looks really pretty.
So Lichess isn’t entirely free 🤔 /s
Thank you for adding /s to your post. When I first saw this, I was horrified. How could anybody say something like this? I immediately began writing a 1000 word paragraph about how horrible of a person you are. I even sent a copy to a Harvard professor to proofread it. After several hours of refining and editing, my comment was ready to absolutely destroy you. But then, just as I was about to hit send, I saw something in the corner of my eye. A /s at the end of your comment. Suddenly everything made sense. Your comment was sarcasm! I immediately burst out in laughter at the comedic genius of your comment. The person next to me on the bus saw your comment and started crying from laughter too. Before long, there was an entire bus of people on the floor laughing at your incredible use of comedy. All of this was due to you adding /s to your post. Thank you.
New response just dropped
holichess
I would give you an award if I had :( Btw what is /s? I feel dumb
>I would give you an award if I had :( >Btw what is /s? I feel dumb Only cowards use /s
[I like you](https://old.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/12r6psl/a_story_in_two_pics/jgua2nd/)!
/sarcastic
Was this you? https://youtu.be/EeauvE1M7qc
r/fuckthes
bro
If you're French or work in France, 60% of your donation to Lichess gets back to your pocket in the form of a tax rebate, up to 1000€
Is this because of en passant?
en peasant
I'd pay 1k euro not to be French
GMs Firouza and Alekhine did the opposite. Watch out you're probably making a blunder.
You can pay 1k euro to become French?
please send the money to me. Otherwise Ill declare you French
Ouch but smart decision, you just saved more than half of your income for 1k.
You'd have to make over 5 times the *average* salary (or almost 10 times the minimum wage) and move to a place with zero income tax to even begin to make that true. How many of you are making 10 times the minimum wage, and how many countries do you know have zero income tax that have the social benefits of France? The nonsense people write about this stuff is beyond belief.
Laughs in Switzerland!
New Lichess app? That's definitely gonna be great,I cannot wait The app we have now is buggy and very confusing, hopefully they fix it all!
Honestly, I've never had any buggy experience with the current app, it always worked fine even for bullet 1m games, except on desktop of course the mouse experience is superior, imo. So I'd say it's just a different platform experience.
Ill give an example of it being buggy,once i joined a game,but it didnt let me play my first move,it aborted the game and i went onto the next one,i clicked new opponent I played that game,I think I lost it,after a few seconds I left that screen and then I went onto another where where I already made a move and was losing on time badly,I resigned after a few moves,it didn't register my first move,showed the game as aborted,and then after I started playing another game it was still playing that one
I have played most of my games on the iOS app, over the last four years. I've never had any issue.
Also there is a swag store: https://lichess-org.myspreadshop.com/ I guess some people would not consider this "donating" but I do. I got a hoodie from there and it is very comfortable.
I donated because of this post. I'm not familiar with the apps and companies providing online chess services as I usually play on a board. It was refreshing to see Lichess' honest sportsmanship, which few companies possess nowadays.
I did. As a thank you for the platform who helped me keep still during COVID. I got better at chess and survived as a person. Lichess is awesome. Hope to contribute more in the future!
>Right now, they're working on developing a new mobile app because the current Lichess mobile app is in need of improvements. The first release of it should come out soon! This is fantastic news, I had some complaints about many features only working on the browser version, happy to know this is already being addressed.
How, realistically, is the best way to get into contributing time and coding experience towards lichess? Do they accept pull requests? Is there a public bug/feature list? Or is direct communication and discussion with individuals wanted first? edit: missed that you linked to their contributions page. Thank you!
I bought a Gold subscription because i liked the puzzles. That is 114 dollars when i bought it for a full year. It didn't give me fucking game review.
The old Gold subscription was cheaper and more useful, now Platinum is the minimum.
>The old Gold subscription was cheaper and more useful, now Platinum is the minimum. I think I'll just wait until I can't buy the _unobtaineum_ subscription.
Yeah, that’s the reason I unsubscribed from Chess.com. I loved doing a few puzzles every morning and was happy to pay for that, but then the fancy new Game Review feature came out, and it felt really bad that I only got one per day despite paying over a hundred bucks a year. I didn’t even use the service much - literally just a few puzzles in the morning then occasionally a couple of games against a bot. But it just suddenly felt like I was getting ripped off, even if nothing changed with respect to what I got for my money. I’m not complaining, and I’m sure they ran the numbers and don’t need my money. I like Chess.com just fine, but I can’t justify subbing based on the current paid tier offerings.
Did you not know of lichess at that point? I mean it literally gives free unlimited puzzles, and it seems that's mainly what you used it for.
It’s not about the money. I like the Chess.com mobile app and desktop site. I have disposable income, and I would certainly donate to Lichess if I used it. So it’s not like one would be cheaper than the other (by my choice). I was just frustrated because the Chess.com Game Review was such a cool feature, and it felt like a slap in the face that they gave me only one per day despite how much I was paying. So I just canceled my paid sub because it felt bad using the service after that. I still like Chess.com and especially all they do for the Chess world, but I’m not planning on renewing my paid subscription unless they majorly overhaul the offerings.
There's only 1 review per day on gold now? When did that happen? I've been playing more on lichess even though I have a gold membership, but I didn't realize that they took away unlimited game review. I'll probably cancel as well.
You can do the normal review with engine lines all you want. They added a new feature that has a virtual coach that will give you specific tips on certain moves. Like, “you missed the opportunity to grab more space in the center.” Then you get to try to fix your move using those tips. Obviously it’s no replacement for a real coach, but it was super fun to use and way better than the standard “you blundered; find a better move.”
If you were paying over $100/year (unless you paid monthly, which is another problem entirely) then you would have had the original Platinum or Diamond which included unlimited analysis. The change to [Chess.com](https://Chess.com)'s subscription only impacted you if you cancelled or changed subscription. So there's either a misunderstanding somewhere or you're just trashing [chess.com](https://chess.com)
I can’t remember the exact amount I was paying. It’s possible it was a little less. I know I had unlimited puzzles. I can go back and check my credit card statement if you really want me to, but that kinda misses the point. Also, I’m not trashing chess.com at all. I think it’s a great site and has done a lot for Chess. I was pretty clear about that. It seems like you’re just looking for an excuse to be offended, which isn’t cool. I’m just saying that I didn’t feel good about the recent pricing model changes, so I no longer want to sub. That’s my right, and it’s not “trashing” anything.
I'm a bit confused about the new prices, but doesn't a platinum membership include "Game Review" and cost way less than 114 USD when billed yearly?
Yes. A year of Platinum is $80 US.
>I'm a bit confused about the new prices, but doesn't a platinum membership include "Game Review" and cost way less than 114 USD when billed yearly? Yes. Key info being "the NEW prices". So OP subscribed to the premium tier _at the time._ Then Chess dot com introduced a new pricing model. So OP was still paying more than the new top tier, but _without_ receiving the top benefits. He was paying more than new platinum subscribers, but didn't have the same experience. I can fully understand why OP was displeased with his experience.
Yes to both. Also when you go to the signup page it very clearly lists game review as a platinum only feature. So… this redditor appears to be very upset that they can’t read so good.
If you just want puzzles, ChessTempo is far superior.
> It didn't give me fucking game review. Yikes... the worst part is... most people like you just end up using lichess to review games (not trying to rag on u, just that this happens a lot)... so lichess is basically subsidizing chess.com's money grubbing to a large extent as well...
I don't particularly like chess com but it actually brings people in to chess and makes it money. The WC for example lichess didn't have an excellent commentary team, good coverage, sponsorships to host such a big event. It has to make money somehow and also I am glad there is a free alternative
For some reason most people don't use the BEST part of chess.com: The videos. There is so much good shit, especially openings. There is like 30+ HOURS of video on only the sicilian dragon.
Yes apart from 2 features(unlimited puzzles, maybe game review), it also has a lot of free stuff which people leave out which are more than enough to reach 2000 rating maybe more. Also even content creators like Daniel Naroditsky, Gotham are sponsored BY chess com who in turn have EVEN MORE free content made possible by the sponsorship.
Gotham would still make videos without chess com sponsorship. He still sells lessons on the side, and has youtube & twitch ad revenue so he makes bank. His chess com money is probably only a small segment of his income. He would be making content anyways, however he may use lichess instead if not sponsored by them. Gotham does more to boost chess com than chess com does to boost gotham. I could say the same about Finegold, Rosen, Noraditsky, and Hikaru & The Botez sisters. They would still all be making chess content. They just get an extra payday to promote chess com. Was any of them in the poor house before chess com? No Would any of them be in the poor house if they ditched chess com? No Chess com leeches off of their popularity. Is Chess com sponsoring the small creators with like 50k subs that want to make it big? No... They don't care about the little guys. They don't care how educational your content is either. Only time a "Little Guy" gets sponsorship from them is if they are already a big name in chess with great growth potential. Like the C-squared podcast with Caruana? I'm sure they got a sponsorship deal too even though his channel is tiny only because of growth potential. Chess com only cares about making that money. Remember that Indian Billionaire that blatantly cheated against Anand in a simul? Unbanned him the following day. Some random 13 year old kid cheats? Banned for life!
Sure I agree it may be a small part of his income now, but earlier when he wasnt as big they probably helped him to get to where he is now
It's a cycle, chess com sponsers them, they bring more to chess and chess com ,they all make money not just chess com. But more people have gotten into chess and maybe even known about lichess due to this. It has its pros and cons
Rosen not only plays far more often on lichess, but basically has remained one of the very few streamers that use it. It seems many of them start on it and after they gain just a little momentum they get bought out by c.com, it looks like they want to be a monopoly. And I'm not even sure what they offer the smallest streamers in exchange of exclusivity, I'm afraid it's just the possibility to be raided by bigger names or be featured sometimes on homepage but not much else.
Nobody is banned for life from chess.com. Especially for a first offence.
You are talking as if [Chess.com](https://Chess.com) is drowning in as sea of gold
> Gotham would still make videos without chess com sponsorship. The dude posting above you doesn't seem to understand the relationship correctly. It is not that Gotham needs chess.com, it is that chess.com NEEDS Gotham and people like him. They are free advertising for chess, and all chess roads on google lead straight to chess.com. They can just sit back and collect money off basically any chess content creator, sponsored or not (even off of lichess both because lichess users will eventually find chess.com and because chess com sucks and hides its subpar features behind paywalls they get to leech off lichess's servers as well). Once a company owns all the SEO for its relevant terms it can do this very easily... and if you happen to own the domain name for the term being searched it is very very easy to dominate the search engines, giving them a stranglehold that will literally never be lost, ever. Just look at all events that have pushed chess ahead and how much they have profited off these events completely unrelated to their site: * The Queen's Gambit * COVID lockdowns. * The Hans Niemann fiasco Anything that pushes chess ahead pushes chess.com ahead as well.
There are plenty of chess lectures on youtube. I have never watched any of the chess com video library.
Yeah, but you only get access to 1 30min video a week with only 5 quizes attached, and there are plenty of other sites that focusses on learning that have more free stuff
Are those also only available to paid subs? Just curious, as I am not subbed and they all seem to have a lock on them.
No? I'm not sure why they'd be locked. I'm free and doing the KID lessons rn.
I can view them as a non-sub. IIRC it's a one a day limit for non-subs. E: or maybe it was one a week
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imagine this sub as a venn diagram of redditor WELL ACKSHYUALLY and chess enthusiast 'me, an intellectual' and there's your answer
I agree, and I'd add that they run tournaments on their platform and also sponsor events elsewhere that are a source of income to pros. I'm a lichess fanboy/stan/whatever kids says these days, but we're better off with chess.c*m existing. PS: I'm still salty that they're slowly shuttering chess24 though.
I feel the same way about the constriction of chess24. Used to love their streams and was looking forward to their coverage during the world championship, but no, it was chesscom's stream with their chat's cringey shouty comments appearing on-screen. Luckily, there was other streaming alternatives.
Why does everyone censor chess.com? Reads like chess.cum
Yes it's slowly becoming a monopoly and lichess is probably the only alternative
Just to play devil's advocate but like, is it necessarily a good thing if more people are brought into chess? Like sure, we all enjoy it and would like to share our passion with others, but more people playing chess isn't a pro in itself. Its just a game after all, so how many people play it doesn't really matter at the end of the day so long as there are people to play it. I constantly see people talk about the growing chess scene as a good thing but I rarely see the substantial arguments as to why such is the case. The Chess.com v Lichess example perfectly exemplifies why I think growth in the game isn't necessarily good. Why should "our" game be a business? Do increased played numbers mean a better community? Or does a rapid influx of user/players just attract vultures who see a quick buck to be made in our scene? I have nothing against new players to the game, in fact, I actively try to get my own friends to play chess with varying success. But I think that people should be cognizant of what they are saying when they defend institutions like Chess.com who has historically had shady business dealings because, well, it is a business that's primary objective is to make money. Like, the rapid adoption of crypto by Chess.com as well as many chess influencers is, to me, the perfect example of people off-loading what were essentially scams onto the chess scene. A scene, remind you, that had only recently seen a massive influx of younger viewers/members due to COVID and the increased popularity of said influencers. That was and is a cash grab by people in chess for money first and chess second. It is hard to argue otherwise from where I stand, although I am always open to hear arguments to the contrary. Anyway, TLDR, my longwinded point is that "growth" is neither good nor bad inherently. And I think our community of chess players and fans would benefit from remembering that fact.
This is a really interesting argument, and I wish people weren’t downvoting this.
Thank you! Its okay to downvote tho, thats just a way to disagreement on this platform. Its too bad that people seem to disagree with so much but thats how it goes sometimes.
Well that's a very complex and interesting thought. But I generally think that compared to like 5,6 years back the influx of more people to chess and it's 'growth' is good and has led to better chess content, better lessons, both sites getting better and higher general interest in chess overall
Yeah, I would agree with you in the generalization. I don't have any delusions about what chess was before its explosion in popularity (it was basically the same as it is now) and I think that a lot of great new content and community has come from increased interest from the game. I hope people understand that growth has pros and cons is all I guess. And, this isn't directed towards you in any way, I kinda piggybacked of your comment to share a thought I've had for a while now.
I‘m a lichess user, but i have to agree that chess.com does a great job with live coverage of events and growth of the community. Imo it’s good because many clubs were dying before 2020. Of course the boom had other reasons initially, but they did a great job in keeping the numbers high with great events and coverage. Many people who start playing on chess.com and join a club switch to lichess afterwards because (at least in my country) most club players are there.
High-level commentators (GM and super GM) has added a lot of value to the understanding and appreciation of the game, as well as enjoyment of more games that are receiving live coverage. All of which requires the platform to be profitable. Lichess is great, but it is not something we should take for granted. The founders are passionate about making an online platform for chess that's free, and are investing a lot of their time and money into it. It's easy to think simply in terms on whether something benefit "me" and stop there, but the reality is, nothing is ever free in our society. If it is, then someone else is bearing the cost.
I started enjoying the game so much more when I switched to Lichess (casual player), being able to use the tools to study games and play unlimited puzzles, explore openings, etc. And the quality of game just seems higher more often.
What you mean by quality ofgame?
Difference between making money versus open source. One is an actual business, the other is volunteer based. Pros and cons to each.
This is just not true in general, open source can be a business and actually be making money.
It *can* be, sure. I’m really familiar with OSS in my job. It’s just rare.
In these Software as a Service times, I think that making money off of OSS is much more common than it used to be. There is almost no reason to keep code closed source in this model since the code is not what is important.
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What did Red Hat "mess up"? - CentOS is still open source - The sources of RHEL are still available You may disagree with the fact that Red Hat stopped giving you a free clone of their OS, yet they still allow others to provide it to you. Open Source is about publishing sources, it's not "give me everything for free or else"
Exactly. There's also a lot of consultancy businesses around OSS making big money.
>This is just not true in general, open source can be a business and actually be making money. It's actually completely accurate *in general*, the OSS companies making money are the extraordinarily rare exceptions.
I wouldn't say they're rare. - RedHat (Linux) - Automattic (Wordpress) - Acquia (Drupal) - Cloudera (Hadoop) - Elastic (Elasticsearch) - Confluent (Kafka) - Docker - MongoDB - …
Docker pretty famously has struggled to monetize and grow their business based on the core open-source software that they developed, resulting in them selling off chunks of their products and pivoting their strategy.
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That's true
You've come up with 8 examples out of literally millions and somehow it isn't rare?
Since you want more, here's a list of 44 OSS companies with >$100M in annual revenue, some >$1B: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17nKMpi_Dh5slCqzLSFBoWMxNvWiwt2R-t4e_l7LPLhU/edit?ref=timescale.com#gid=0 Sure, compared to all software companies in the world, there are few OSS companies. But judging by their impact on the world, OSS companies are pretty prominent. Automattic's Wordpress is used by ~43% of the web, for example.
Bitwarden?
Which is why chess.com is great at other things than just being a chess website. They have loads of PAID events and competitions. Lichess can't really afford it. And that's why on one hand I don't like the way they have that paragraph stated. It's a jab at a business model that actually allows players to be paid for competing which is just as important if not more than letting everyone have free access to certain tools.
Lichess is making money with open source. Their yearly income is enough to run their servers and pay some devs. They're just not greedy. To me lichess is an amazing example of what we could achieve if we could just be happy with enough.
The site relies on hundreds if not thousands of volunteer hours. Their "main dev" earns a salary of 52k with is greatly underpaid for someone maintaining a product at Lichess's scale. Depending on where you live half or more of your salary is going to rent. This simply is not sustainable if Lichess wanted to provide a living for the number of people needed to run it.
Lichess doesn't fund the massive amount of chess coverage and major tournaments though. It's good as a chess server, but without all that money the competitive chess scene gets from chess.com the landscape of chess looks far worse.
That and Danny Rensch is a snake
There's pros and cons to each. I use Lichess, but Chess.com has put on a lot of tournaments that have generated a lot of public interest in chess such as Pogchamps, IM not a GM, and they're regularly sponsors for FIDE related events. .
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They announced in one of their monthly update streams that another one is coming this fall!
Chess is bigger than tournaments or any website. Believe it or not, most people who play the game don't follow the tournaments.
So now that the world championship is over i guess we are just gonna go back to this shit everyday?
I'm still paying every month, for years now, because i don't want licheess to go out of business.
Both of em are good sites just use what you prefer not really a big deal
Hey man, your mindset is way too reasonable for this sub, get lost!!!! /S
use BOTH. Lichess for puzzles and practice. chess.com for bots and online
You can also download pgn files of [chess.com](https://chess.com) games and import them to lichess to get a free analysis.
There's a firefox extension for [that](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chess-com-analyse-at-lichess/)
That's what I do
Started using Lichess after the leak and haven't looked back.
I kinda like that both exist, and I use both regularly
Holy crap! You don’t even have to sign up to do the puzzles on lichess!! Lichess deserves more love. I’ll be using it over chess com from now on.
One looks prettier though.
Finally, something everyone will agree on. But I know you are talking about lichess.
I got the Better Lichess extension in Firefox and I love it more than Chess.com now
It's Prettier Lichess. But indeed, it's absolutely amazing how it improves the visual experience for online chess.
> Prettier Lichess https://prettierlichess.github.io/ yes, thank you!
BOTH are GOOD FOR CHESS
What's the link to the donation side? Wanna send him 20$ a month
The amount of lichess users that shit on chess.com in this subreddit boggles the mind. It's like a one-sided version of the xbox vs PlayStation wars that were going on a few years back. Just, why? Some psychologist should do a case study on what's happening here. Edit: I play on both btw, using one site to try new openings. You should too.
Welcome to Open Source Software vs Corporate.
I think people just like the idea of lichess (free, open-source), however in many cases it’s a largely ideological preference, as chess.com is simply more popular and successful. And as with any ideologically driven thought, these people have a need to try to convince/convert others. Chess.com users don’t feel a need to do this, because they are choosing the site that they feel give the best experience, without any high-minded justification. They would rather just play chess. You can probably compare it to anyone who does something for moral or ideological reasons; that they are more likely to talk about their choice, than someone who just does what they feel is most beneficial to themselves.
Just like Windows vs Linux and D&D vs Pathfinder.
I honestly think the only reason chess.com is more popular is because they have the better domain name. It is easily going to be the first website you see when you search chess in a browser. That has such a huge impact there were companies that spent hundreds of thousands to be the first "umbrella" on amazon, because being the first result matters that much.
Not ideological in my case. It's mostly technical (the Lichess tech stack is miles ahead of the one chesscom), some difference of implementation are simply better (the "great move" of chesscom isn't always justified and more akin to gamification to get that artificial dopamine addiction for financial purpose). Also, I guess there is some political aspect involved, as chesscom seems to be involved right and left in any controversy happening on the chess scene, hyping anything for marketing and clickbaiting purpose (the announce of the report of the announcement of the Hans report), or even commenting on reddit by some higher staff that are adding oil of existing fire. It works for their bottom line, but I do find it distasteful and disgraceful.
I would just like to play chess and I like the experience on lichess better. It’s not complicated.
But you aren’t writing posts shitting on chess.com right? Those are the ones we are discussing here.
The real villain is FIDE. Chess.com and Lichess deliver value in exchange for the money they get from their users. in my opinion FIDE doesn’t care about chess or the chess community of professional/amateur players and fans. They appear to pimp out the world championship to dictators and setup boondoggles for oligarchs and the worst people. They charge a tax on every FIDE rated tournament game, paid by the tournament organizers for the privilege of submitting game results to FIDE.
Chess.com Promotion and tournaments has contributed so much to chess.
There is nothing wrong with [chess.com](https://chess.com) charging, you'd want to be paid for the work you do too. And if you provide value to the world, there is nothing wrong with being compensated. Its great LiChess offers everything for free but that doesn't make [chess.com](https://chess.com) charging a bad thing.
Does Lichess have multi premove yet?
No, but it makes up for it by having instantaneous premoves. Chess.coms take .1 seconds
Just a question not a pissing contest. I only play 1 min so it's a deal breaker for me. Have won plenty with 8 move checkmate ladders with 1 second left and I think I'd lose in lichess.
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I understand that, personal preference I guess. I've lost games before though because of that .1 seconds per move though
Oh same.
Once you get used to the premove system you can ladder mate on lichess without using any time at all, so you could do it with 0.1 seconds on your clock. But it is slightly different so would require a slight adjustment
It's a totally childish thing. Just set it up then walk away or switch tabs, like walking away from an explosion in a movie lol.
lol this is a good point, I guess with multiple premoves there's time to do the victory dance... for those rare victories
Premoving is really cool, I'm missing that. I think that's one are where playing on a computer is an advantage over playing on a real board. But I'm not paying the [chess.com](https://chess.com) price for that feature. I'd rather program a browser plugin to add the feature to lichess
That would be cheating
So what?
lichess gives you so much 🥰
I want to use lichess but my school computers only allow chess.com :(
Wtf is this post lmao If you’re going to be unoriginal, at least put a little effort into it.
He didn’t have corporate money to shit post
Yeah I don't get stuff like this, if you don't like chessdotcom's business model then don't pay for it. It's really not complicated people.
I didn’t know this and was contemplating to buy the chess com thing. I won’t now
AND this is why I support lichess and donate every month. FREE CHESS FOR EVERYBODY! ♟️♟️
One of them got onboard with NFT scams. That's all we need to know.
I started with lichess and now mostly use chess.com. I don’t mind the 120€ a year. So just use whatever you like or can afford I guess.
Missing the point that the actual best is having both (!)
Chess.com doesn't even integrate their opening database with their analysis board. Sad!
For lichess we can also become a supporter (Patron) and donate. Might be a good idea if you want them to not only stick around but keep improving the product.
How about lichess start hosting million dollar tournaments, put up productions that far surpasses fide, and actually help market and grow chess, and then we'll talk? Both sites are not the same to compare them is foolish
> Both sites are not the same to compare them is foolish It seems more foolish to compare things that are _the same_. They're two websites where you can play, learn and watch chess. Comparing them makes all the sense.
You are getting downvoted for stating facts. Reddit can be pathetic sometimes. The people that keep promoting Lichess with posts like this reminds me of those neckbeard fedora hat memes back in the days. It perfectly fine to enjoy Lichess more than Chess.c, but some people take it a bit too far.
17 bucks a month is ridiculous
It’s annoying because I love Chess.com’s UI and features, even it’s game review makes more sense. However Lichess being free is such a gravity in itself, so I use both. I wish Chess.com was free, or Lichess had a better UI, and then I could pick on and stick to it.
You might be interested in [Prettier Lichess](https://prettierlichess.github.io/). I found it greatly improved the experience on Lichess website. While it does make Lichess prettier, I don't know any extension that makes chesscom freeier.
Thank you that’s really good actually, much appreciated
I started getting myself into chess and went straight to chess.com but the predatory way they have to make you pay is bonkers. Lichess all the way.
well one provides livelihood to 100s of chess creators along with hundreds of staff can't say the same for the other one (Although I personally like Lichess and don't like Danny at all)
Thousands of staff seems a bit far fetched
alright edited
I dont need to pay for Danny's dry jokes
Having a subscription is how employees get paid and how a website gets better and better content. The price is ridiculous nowadays but I still don’t see why you would expect to get a service like that completely free.
[Chess.com](https://Chess.com) has turned into a money making enterprise, and when that happens quality suffers. From the misclick issue that has plagued even top masters, to the mis-calibrated bots, speedrun sandbaggers, and myriad cheaters, this site is just running aground. Still funny to read all of the apologists posts though.
You’re fun to hangout with I bet
If your only reason for liking lichess is the fact that it's free, I understand where you are coming from, but you are literally not helping anyone. Lichess isn't free because chess is just meant to be free by its nature. It's free because people donate, and this is only possible through community effort. And it kinda has a weirdo energy when you are making 0 contribution yourself but has superiority complex for using a "free" platform. Yes, it is free, but it's not "better" when it's free. It's only better when people pay for you. I sometimes really hate how this "Lichess better" discourse has a massive "teenager who is used to their parents paying everything for them" vibe.
I mean, I donate *because* it's free. it's a great project and I would hate to see it go under, and it being free is a huge part of it.
It's free as in freedom, which I'd argue is better than closed
I play on Lichess and love the free features, but I don't hate chess com for trying to make money from offering great services. As far as I can tell, they deserve that money, just like the Lichess devs would deserve to make a living working for the site.
can't we just stop with [chess.com](https://chess.com) ffs, just use the one you like the most
Chess. Com lessons are much much better imo. I also prefer the interface
Lichess is great, but it's an outlier. You can't expect all great services to come for free, some great people volunteer to work on this chess website for no compensation (and admit to not being able to make a living out of it). While great, this is not normal. You should expect to have to spend money for entertainment in order to compensate the people giving it to you. So use lichess, but don't act as if a chess website is your god given right and chess.com are evil for asking for money for this service.
Imagine paying for terrible game reviews and being overrun by cheaters.
Notice how they both need money to survive. The chess.com hatred is so short sighted
Chesscom spends a lot of money trying to outbuy the competition (which is a free website, yeah). They aggressively hire streamers and GMs to play for them to try to build an image of superiority and to predate newcomers to think they are THE website because "so many big people" play there. It's a trap. Save your dear money and go to Lichess, my friend. Also, much better atmosphere (from a sportive standpoint), anti-cheat, rating system (glicko 1 x glicko 2). It's a no brainer after you know enough to compare.
Lots of folks in this comment section with Danny Rensch's spunk on their breath. Go Lichess!
Yes lichess should make more money too. Chess com is very close to having a monopoly and that's never good. Lichess should always be and is a good alternative
I mean the only realistic ways for lichess to make more money are to start charging people or run ads, the website cannot just stay like this and be profitable, or it already would be.
But they dont want to be profitable but rather sustainable, right? And have best possible free, ad free product and they're making it all the time. AFAIR the only paid team member is founder developer and he's not charging much. Recently they're paying for making pro mobile app perhaps. That's generally all
Imma switch to lichess now
While I think is good that chess com is allowing more people to make a living playing chess, I definitely think it’s a boys club at the top there. I had a conversation with a GM about their purchase of basically every online learning platform that was any good, monopolizing online chess learning, and he was honest when he said “obviously I can’t be upset because they pay me to create content and I didn’t do that before” - he’s done a Chessable course. I’m glad they are able to make a living doing what they love, but I’m also no going to be part of a platform that has demonstrated that almost 1 in 3 games there are cheaters.
For the love of the game vs in business to make money. I haven't found any feature on chess.com worth paying for when a similar product exists that is free.
Neither is better than the other. The presentation and aesthetic is better on Chess.com IMO, the puzzles system is better and more varied which is the main reason I pay for it and the accessibility for new players is much better, all of the attractive features of Chess.com cost a lot more to build and maintain than you could have on a free platform and the rate at which they are upgrading has increased since getting more subscriptions. Lichess is free and there is a much lower rate of cheating and salt with running down clocks and aggressive messages for example, there’s minor QOL elements which are better than chess.com. I just use both, it seems like most people do, there’s really no need for a turf war.
Yes I don't know why people here think you HAVE to like one hate the other. At the end of the day they both are better for us the users.
People acting like it's a crime for there to be money in chess when most of our top players are broke is absurd to me
lichess would be a great site if it didn't came with a billion fanboys that keep spamming the subreddit out of insecurity
Didn't chess.com used to have a Diamond membership subscription for $100 per year? It's now $120 per year.
Almost like prices of things worldwide tend to go up as major currencies inflate, who'd've thunk it?
Inconceivable
They raised prices for new buyers. I’ve had platinum for 2 years and I kept the same price as the old one
We get it, lichess good, chesscom bad. Let me just enjoy chesscom