Product concepts
Rating sync
Definition
Rating sync is the automated process by which chess academy software pulls a student's online rating and game history from a linked platform account into their academy record. In ChessCore, Lichess accounts sync automatically through Lichess's open API, while Chess.com accounts import read-only, so every student's rating trend updates without a coach re-entering numbers by hand.
In practice
Rating sync shows up wherever a coach checks a student's online rating without asking them to report it manually: the student roster, a progress report snapshot, or the game review queue that pulls in new games automatically. A synced rating carries a source label, since Lichess and Chess.com run separate rating pools and the same student can show two different numbers. Coaches also see the term when setting up a new student's platform accounts, since sync depends on the correct username being recorded first. Rating sync is not the same as a FIDE rating, which comes only from federation-rated tournaments. For the full comparison of how Lichess and Chess.com sync differently, what each costs an academy, and how to run a dual-platform setup, read the linked guide below.