Integration
Lichess integration for chess academies
ChessCore’s Lichess integration connects a student’s Lichess account to their academy profile, imports their games automatically, runs Stockfish to flag the coachable mistakes, and turns that into a review and a progress report a coach approves before it reaches a parent.
Lichess is a free, public chess platform with an open API and standard PGN export. ChessCore reads a student’s public games from it so coaches never chase screenshots or hand-upload move lists. This page explains exactly how that pipeline works inside ChessCore.
How the Lichess integration works
The integration is built around one idea: a coach should never have to ask a student to send a game. Once a student’s Lichess username sits on their ChessCore profile, ChessCore reads that account’s public games through the Lichess public API and brings them in as PGN, the standard chess game format. New games appear against the right student automatically, attached to the same record that already holds their batch, attendance, and fees.
From there, Stockfish — the open-source engine ChessCore runs on the server — evaluates each game and marks the moments that matter for teaching: the blunder that lost a piece, the missed tactic, the endgame that slipped. The coach opens a game already triaged, instead of replaying it move by move to find the teachable position.
The flow, step by step
Connect
Add the student’s Lichess username to their ChessCore profile — no password, just the public handle.
Import
ChessCore pulls new public games from that account automatically via the Lichess API, as standard PGN.
Analyse
Stockfish runs on each imported game and flags the blunders, mistakes, and missed wins worth coaching.
Review & report
The AI drafts a game review and a progress report from real games — a coach approves before anything sends.
What data flows in — and what does not
ChessCore imports public game data by username: the moves, the result, the time control, and the date. It does this through the Lichess public API, so a student never shares a password, and ChessCore never plays or resigns on their behalf. The import is read-only — ChessCore takes a copy of finished games for coaching and leaves the Lichess account untouched. Because games arrive as PGN, the same analysis works whether a student played a rapid game online or you uploaded a tournament score sheet.
Where ChessCore handles a student’s data, it does so under the same controls as the rest of the platform. See how we treat academy and student data on the security page.
From imported game to coach-approved report
The point of importing games is not a wall of engine numbers — it is faster, better-evidenced coaching. ChessCore’s AI reads the Stockfish output and drafts a plain-language review: what went well, the two or three mistakes worth fixing, and a suggested focus for next week. It also drafts the parent-facing progress report from the student’s real games over time. A coach approves every review and report before it sends — the AI proposes, the coach decides, and nothing reaches a parent unread.
This sits alongside the rest of the platform rather than bolting on. Game import is one of the jobs covered in the in-depth chess academy management software guide, and it ships in every plan described on the features page.
Setting it up
Setup is per student and takes seconds: open the student’s profile, add their Lichess username, and their public games start importing. There is no plugin to install and nothing for the student to configure on the Lichess side. For academies that also use Chess.com, the same flow runs in parallel — see the Chess.com integration, or the full list on the integrations page. When you are ready to compare plans, see ChessCore pricing.
Frequently asked questions
- How does ChessCore connect to Lichess?
- A coach or parent adds the student’s Lichess username to their ChessCore profile. ChessCore then reads that account’s public games over the Lichess public API and imports them automatically, so nobody has to upload PGN files by hand.
- Do students need to share their Lichess password?
- No. ChessCore imports public game data by username through the Lichess public API. It never asks for or stores a Lichess password, and it does not play moves on the student’s behalf.
- Does the Lichess integration cost extra?
- No. Game import from Lichess and Chess.com, Stockfish analysis, and the AI review draft are part of every ChessCore plan. Pricing runs from $69 to $179 across four tiers — see the pricing page.
- Can a coach review the games before parents see anything?
- Yes. ChessCore drafts the review and the progress report, but nothing is sent to a parent until a coach reads it and approves it. The coach stays the editor of record.
Reviewed by a chess academy operations specialist · ChessCore Editorial. See our editorial standards.