Popular open-source online chess site Lichess is one of the best alternatives to the chess.com juggernaut. While the platform is known for its versatility and stability, occasional issues still arise from time to time. Here's what's going on with Lichess and if it is down for everyone else, too.
What is Lichess?
Lichess.org is a free and open-source chess platform launched in June 2010. It is maintained by a French nonprofit helmed by creator and programmer Thibault Duplessis. The site offers all the common features you would look for elsewhere in online chess, but without any paywall (except for voluntary donations). It is the most popular online chess site after chess.com, and it promises a free and open chess experience forever.
Lichess generally offers a fantastic play experience, but occasional downtimes still occur. In case of scheduled maintenance, a big "Lichess will restart in 10 minutes" sign will appear on the page at the appropriate time. But there are other cases when things can go poof.
Is Lichess down?
As of writing, the latest big outage of Lichess came on Aug. 24, due to server hardware issues. As explained by Lichess on Bluesky, "the cause currently appears to be a crucial server abruptly shutting down due to hardware failure, outside of our control. We think things should be stable but will be monitoring closely." They also added that they won't be able to refund rating or restore affected game positions.
Visiting the site, you are greeted by the following message:
"We lost two disks in a row, winning the lottery!
We'll be back shortly, please do not panic
Apologies for the downtime."
Based on information from the volunteer-ran Lichess4545 league's moderators, the best-case scenario at 1pm ET was a four-hour downtime, so the platform is expected to stay down at least until 5pm ET.
To get updates on the maintenance, you can keep an eye on this page, as well as @lichess on Mastodon, @lichess on Bluesky or the lichess Discord. And, you know, if push comes to shove, there's always chess.com, or some of the best chess-themed video games to try.
The post Is Lichess down? appeared first on Destructoid.
