Requirements:

Be a student or maintain an active paid membership in the academy.
Join Our Lichess Team (depending on your level it will change)
Play the Tournaments

Table of Contents

How to Join Lichess Team

(if you are already part of the team, you can skip this step)

Use Only Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge Browser. App is not that recommended. If the browser is causing issues, then use the app.

Step 2: Go to Team Link example: https://lichess.org/team/seed-succeed-team

Step 3: Press Join Team

Step 4: Enter Student Name or Membership details in the default text area.

Step 5: Solve the Mate in 1 Puzzle

Step 6: Press Join Team & Await our Approval.

Step 7: Once approved, you can visit a tournament link from our events calendar or teams/whatsapp group and then click join.

How to Participate in a Tournament?

Method A

Step 1: Sign in to Lichess

Step 2: Go to Community Tab -> Click on Teams

Step 3: Click on Your Team

Step 4: Scroll down to Tournament Section, and Select by clicking on the tournament you wish to join.

Rabbit represents Rapid Tournaments.

Grey Rabbit means that the tournament is over.

Golden Rabbit means it’s an upcoming tournament. Click on an upcoming tournament.

You can also notice the day, date and time of the event.

Notice the Entry Requirement: Must be Part of the Team! This Must be in Green Color.

If it’s in RED color (instead of green like in the above image) then the JOIN button will not be highlighted.

which means you need to join the team first, to be eligible to participate in the tournament.

When you click JOIN your username will be on the list.

Note: The original JOIN button now became Withdraw. You can click on that to withdraw from a tournament.

Once your name is on the list, you have successfully joined the tournament.

To play it, you need to show up on the same tournament page at the appropriate time, to get automatically paired with other participants.

You can find the required Tournament Details on the side or bottom of the tournament link.

10+0 = Time Control for both players

1h (hour) is the duration of the event

Date and Time have given below, along with other info.

C30 King’s Gambit is a chess opening that players will play in this tournament.

Method 2:

Step 1: Go to Tournaments & Events Tab at the top menu

Browse and select the event/tournament you want to participate in (click on it).

You can find the Tournament details at 1.

And 2 the Tournament link under website (2) click on it and follow the above given joining procedures.

Frequently Asked Questions on Lichess & Rating

What rating system does Lichess use?

Ratings are calculated using the Glicko-2 rating method developed by Mark Glickman. This is a very popular rating method, and is used by a significant number of chess organisations (FIDE being a notable counter-example, as they still use the dated Elo rating system).

Fundamentally, Glicko ratings use “confidence intervals” when calculating and representing your rating. When you first start using the site, your rating starts at 1500 ± 700. The 1500 represents your rating, and the 700 represents the confidence interval.

Basically, the system is 90% sure that your rating is somewhere between 800 and 2200. When a player is just starting out, their rating estimate will change very dramatically, potentially several hundred points at a time. After some games against established players the confidence interval will narrow, and points gained/lost per game will decrease.

Another point to note is that, as time passes, the confidence interval will increase. This allows you to gain/lose points points more rapidly to match any changes in your skill level over that time.

Why is there a question mark (?) next to a rating?

The question mark means the rating is provisional. Reasons include:

The player has not yet finished enough rated games against opponents of similar strength in the rating category.
The player hasn’t played enough recent games. Depending on the number of games you’ve played, it might take around a year of inactivity for your rating to become provisional again.

Concretely, it means that the Glicko-2 deviation is greater than 110. The deviation is the level of confidence the system has in the rating. The lower the deviation, the more stable a rating is.

Why are ratings higher compared to other sites and organisations such as FIDE, USCF and the ICC?

It is not useful to think of ratings as absolute numbers, or compare them against other organisations. Different organisations have different levels of players, different rating systems (Elo, Glicko, Glicko-2, or a modified version of the aforementioned). These factors can drastically affect the absolute numbers (ratings).

It is useful to think of ratings as “relative” figures (as opposed to “absolute” figures): Within a pool of players, their relative differences in ratings will help you estimate who will win/draw/lose, and how often. Saying “I have X rating” means nothing unless there are other players to compare that rating to.

How to hide ratings while playing?

Enable Zen-mode in the display preferences, or by pressing z during a game.

I lost a game due to lag/disconnection. Can I get my rating points back?

Unfortunately, we cannot give back rating points for games lost due to lag or disconnection, regardless of whether the problem was at your end or our end. The latter is very rare though. Also note that when Lichess restarts and you lose on time because of that, we abort the game to prevent an unfair loss.

Why am I flagged for artificial rating manipulation (sandbagging and boosting) or computer assistance?

Lichess has strong detection methods and a very thorough process for reviewing all the evidence and making a decision. The process often involves many moderators and can take a long time. Other than the mark itself, we will not go into details about evidence or the decision making process for individual cases. Doing so would make it easier to avoid detection in the future, and be an invitation to unproductive debates. That time and effort is better spent on other important cases. Users can appeal by emailing contact@lichess.org, but decisions are rarely overturned.

How are Bullet, Blitz and other time controls decided?

Lichess time controls are based on estimated game duration = (clock initial time) + 40 × (clock increment)
For instance, the estimated duration of a 5+3 game is 5 × 60 + 40 × 3 = 420 seconds.

≤ 30s = UltraBullet
≤ 180s = Bullet
≤ 480s = Blitz
≤ 1500s = Rapid
≥ 1500s = Classical

Losing on time, drawing and insufficient material

In the event of one player running out of time, that player will usually lose the game. However, the game is drawn if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves (FIDE handbook §6.9, PDF).

In rare cases this can be difficult to decide automatically (forced lines, fortresses). By default we always side with the player who did not run out of time.

Note that it can be possible to mate with a single knight or bishop if the opponent has a piece that could block the king.

Why can a pawn capture another pawn when it is already passed? (en passant)

This is a legal move known as “en passant”. The Wikipedia article gives a good introduction.

It is described in section 3.7 (d) of the official rules (PDF):

“A pawn occupying a square on the same rank as and on an adjacent file to an opponent’s pawn which has just advanced two squares in one move from its original square may capture this opponent’s pawn as though the latter had been moved only one square. This capture is only legal on the move following this advance and is called an ‘en passant’ capture.”

See the Lichess training on this move for some practice with it.

Threefold Repetition

If a position occurs three times, players can claim a draw by threefold repetition. Lichess implements the official FIDE rules, as described in Article 9.2 (d) of the handbook (PDF).

We did not repeat moves. Why was the game still drawn by repetition?

Threefold repetition is about repeated positions, not moves. Repetition does not have to occur consecutively.

We repeated a position three times. Why was the game not drawn?

Repetition needs to be claimed by one of the players. You can do so by pressing the button that is shown, or by offering a draw before your final repeating move. You can also configure Lichess to automatically claim repetitions for you. Additionally, fivefold repetition always immediately ends the game.

General Ethics & Principles

Do Not Cheat or use computer assistance. Lichess has the tech to detect malpractice. Cheating will lead to a permanent account & IP ban. You may never be able to play again. So DO NOT CHEAT.
Free up Memory Space & HardDisk Space on your phone/laptop/tab. This will prevent hangups or lag when playing.
Do not Rage Quit (leave the game) unfinished. This will lead to a penalty and a temporary ban from playing. If you need to leave urgently, then resign the game. Do not just close the browser or app.
If you want to leave the tournament then be sure to click withdraw on the tournament page.
Do not ask players to Play Fast! Be patient, chess is a strategic, calculative game.
Do Not Play Fast! Think, Strategize, and then Play.
Don’t abuse, bully, or use foul language. Be courteous to other players. You never know who is on the other side. If coach or admins spot you badmouthing, you may get banned from playing temporarily.
Do not cry or rage quit over loses. Always be cool, calm, and collected. Understand why you lost, made your mistakes, take notes of your mistakes, mindset, posture, thinking process, moves played, and course-correct yourself for future success & wins.
Do not Quit. Losers will eventually win, but quitters are the real losers.
Have Fun & Enjoy the Game!

How to Join & Play Our Chess Tournaments?