Integration
Lichess integration for chess academies
A chess academy Lichess game sync links a student’s public username to their ChessCore profile, imports their games about every hour, and lets the coach request Stockfish analysis of any of them. The AI can explain the engine’s findings, and the coach approves each explanation before it can be shared.
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.
Sync to review
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, the coach chooses the games worth a closer look and requests analysis. Stockfish, the open-source engine ChessCore runs on its servers, evaluates each requested game and flags every inaccuracy, mistake and blunder with the better move. The coach opens a game already triaged, instead of replaying it move by move to find the teachable position.
lucas_m_plays sits on Lucas’s ChessCore profile. The family’s consent is recorded first, and no Lichess password is involved.
His public games come in about every hour, every time control, and the same game is never imported twice.
Coach Elena picked the 14 October game. Stockfish marked an inaccuracy, a mistake and the move 17 blunder, with the better move.
The AI explains move 17 in plain words. The draft waits for Coach Elena to edit and approve it before it can be shared.
Illustrative screen from a made-up demo academy.
Four steps
The flow, step by step
1. Link
Staff add the student’s public Lichess username to their ChessCore profile, with the family’s consent. No password is involved.2. Import
ChessCore pulls the account’s public games through the Lichess public API about every hour, as standard PGN.3. Analyse
The coach requests Stockfish analysis for the games that matter. With the academy’s practice loop on, which is the default, ChessCore also queues analysis overnight for up to two recent games per student that have none. Stockfish flags the inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders.4. Review
The AI can explain the engine’s findings in plain words. Each per-move explanation starts as a draft, and the coach approves it before it can be shared.
Link and sync
What ChessCore reads, and how often
ChessCore needs only the student's public Lichess username. Your staff add it to the student's profile, and the link is accepted only once the family has given consent for it in ChessCore. Families do not need to sign in to Lichess for games to sync.
If you want proof that the account really belongs to the student, ChessCore offers two optional checks. The student can place a one-time code in their public Lichess profile, or sign in with Lichess once. That sign-in requests no Lichess permissions: ChessCore reads the username, and the sign-in token is not kept. Your academy can also choose to sync games only from accounts that passed one of these checks.
Linked accounts sync about every hour, and staff can sync one account on demand with Sync now (once every five minutes per account). Each sync imports every game the account returns with its moves, and records the time control. There is no filter by time control or rated status, so bullet, blitz, rapid and classical games all come in. The same game is never imported twice, and later syncs fetch only games newer than the last one imported. If the family withdraws consent, the next sync fetches nothing and stores nothing.
One separate case: a coach who imports their own Lichess studies into ChessCore signs in with Lichess and grants read access to studies only. That is for the coach's own study material, not for student games.
Link, import and sync details last checked against the product: 11 October 2026. The overnight analysis default last checked: 16 October 2026.
Read-only
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. If the phrase is new to you, what rating sync means defines it.
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.
Coach in the loop
From imported game to coach-reviewed feedback
Import, engine analysis and AI explanation are three separate steps. Importing a game does not by itself request analysis. The coach can request Stockfish analysis for any imported game, and with the academy’s practice loop on, which is the default, ChessCore also queues analysis overnight for up to two recent games per student that have none. The AI then explains the Stockfish output of an analysed game in plain words. Per-move explanations start as drafts, and the coach edits and approves each one before it can be shared. Parents see their child’s recent game results and ratings in the parent portal. Automatic monthly progress reports carry game counts and ratings for the month, with no AI-written text and no engine analysis. The game analysis feature page covers analysis and review after import in more detail.
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. Automatic sync ships on Pro and Enterprise, and PGN upload is on every plan described on the features page.
Setting it up
Setup is per student and takes seconds: record the family's consent, open the student’s profile, add their Lichess username, and their public games start importing. Automatic sync starts on the Pro plan and up; you can upload a PGN file on any plan. There is no plugin to install, and the student configures nothing on the Lichess side unless your academy asks for the optional ownership check. 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 get a student’s Lichess games?
- Academy staff add the student’s public Lichess username to their ChessCore profile, with the family’s consent. ChessCore then reads that account’s public games over the Lichess public API and imports them about every hour, so nobody has to upload PGN files by hand. Families do not need to sign in to Lichess for games to sync.
- 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?
- There is no add-on fee. Automatic sync from Lichess and Chess.com is on Pro and Enterprise; PGN upload, Stockfish analysis and AI review drafts are on every plan. There is a Free plan, and paid plans run from $69 to $149 a month billed annually. See the pricing page.
- Can a coach review the games before parents see anything?
- Yes. Importing a game does not by itself request analysis, and AI explanations of a game start as drafts that the coach approves one move at a time before they can be shared. Automatic monthly progress reports carry game counts and ratings, with no AI text and no game analysis. Class and fee reminders are separate and go out on a schedule the academy turns on.
Written by Abhishek Tiwari. See our editorial standards.
