Players play chess against the computer or online opponents at their level, solve rated tactics puzzles, learn the basics through interactive lessons, and review finished games with an engine that shows better moves.
Why it may be useful
Chess is calculation, planning and pattern recognition made concrete, and Lichess removes every commercial barrier to practicing it daily. The best evidence on chess instruction finds real gains in chess itself, with only modest, uncertain transfer to schoolwork or general reasoning.
Keep in mind
Research finds real gains in chess itself but only modest, uncertain transfer to maths or general reasoning, and online play means strangers unless Kid mode is turned on.
Written 2026-09-15 · editorial assessment, not a measured effect · how we rate →
What the game is
Lichess is a chess site and app started in 2010 by Thibault Duplessis and now run by a non-profit with volunteer developers. It is free and open source. Its own about page states that it does not sell advertising or user data, that patrons' donations pay for the servers, and that people play more than five million games a day on it.
What you get is chess, plus everything around it. You can play a stranger at your rating, play the computer at a chosen strength, or set up a game with a friend by sending a link. A puzzle trainer serves tactical positions taken from real games and adjusts to how you do. There are interactive lessons for the basic moves, an opening explorer built on a database of master games, and studies where positions and annotations are shared.
After a game ends, engine analysis marks the moves that lost ground and shows what was better. Nothing is paywalled: no premium tier, no advertising and no in-app purchase, in the browser or in the phone apps. Playing does not require an account; ratings, saved history and Kid mode do.
What you actually do
Most sessions are one of two things. Either you play a game, which means the ordinary business of chess: look at what the opponent threatens, look for your own threats, calculate a few moves ahead and choose. Or you run puzzles, which are positions lifted from real games with one strong move to find, served one after another and scored against your rating.
The third thing is what makes the site useful rather than merely free. After a game you press analyse, and the engine walks through it marking blunders and mistakes and showing the move that was missed. That turns a loss into a list of specific things to watch for. Getting better means recognizing patterns already seen, which is why short daily doses of the puzzle trainer are where most children improve fastest.
What it exercises
Calculates several moves ahead and checks what the opponent can reply
Recognizes recurring tactical patterns such as forks, pins and back-rank mates
Reviews a finished game and names the move that lost it
Holds a plan across many turns while adapting to what the opponent does
Plays out a losing position instead of quitting when the game turns bad
Why we rate it High Worksheet score 73 / 100
FitHow much real knowledge or skill does the play itself make you use?80weight 45%
Fit reaches 80. Chess has no reward layer, no cosmetics and no way to progress except by playing better, and Lichess adds graded puzzles plus a post-game analysis that names the mistake, turning ordinary play into real practice. Almost nothing here is decoration; the thinking is the game.
TransferWill what you practise here work outside the game?45weight 30%
Transfer is deliberately held to 45, set by evidence rather than opinion. The best available research finds that chess instruction reliably improves chess itself, with only modest transfer to mathematics or general reasoning, and that transfer shrinks further in better-controlled studies. Expect a stronger chess player, not a stronger student.
PracticeDoes the game make you use that skill again and again, as it gets harder?95weight 25%
Practice reaches 95. Chess is one skill repeated indefinitely, puzzles fit into five minutes a day, games take as long as the chosen clock, and the puzzle rating gives an honest, continuously rising measure of whether the practice is working. There is no end state and no point at which the material runs out.
What the evidence says
Research-backedPublished research has studied this game, or the exact mechanic it is built on.
The evidence level here is research-backed, and the wording matters, because the research concerns chess instruction generally rather than Lichess itself. Sala and Gobet's 2016 meta-analysis in Educational Research Review pooled studies of chess teaching and found real gains in chess with only modest transfer to mathematics and cognitive skills, transfer that shrank further in better-designed studies. Their 2017 experiments with an active control group, in Learning and Behavior, found no mathematics benefit at all. Both examine classroom instruction of school-age children, not a child playing at home. The site's own about page supports only the claims about cost, openness and funding.
Editorial assessment - not a measured scientific effect.
Fit
80/100
Transfer
45/100
Practice
95/100
Why it makes the cut
It is chess; the game has been played for its own sake for centuries, and Lichess is simply the cleanest free way to play it.
Research-backed
This is research-backed, though carefully worded: a meta-analysis and follow-up controlled experiments studied chess instruction generally, finding real chess-skill gains but little to no transfer to mathematics, rather than studying Lichess itself.
Prices are US store listings in USD, last refreshed 2026-09-28; regional prices and sales differ.
Lichess is run by a non-profit and funded by donations. A parent can enable Kid mode in account settings, which disables chat and messaging.
Age guidance
Ages 7+
Topics
Logic & strategy
Play styles
Single-player, Multiplayer, Puzzle, Strategy
Tags
Chess · Free and open source · Puzzles
The thinking is the whole game, since chess has no reward layer and no way to progress except by playing better, but the strongest research on chess instruction finds only modest transfer to skills outside the board.
