Lichess accounts for secondary schools
Lichess is an online chess server used by players from all over the world, from beginner to grandmaster. It allows users to challenge their friends to a game, play against a randomly assigned opponent, and choose from hundreds of tournaments in which to compete every day. Both CSC and the English Chess Federation run regular Lichess tournaments for secondary schools, allowing teams to pit their skills against others from around the country. Each November, a qualifying tournament for the National Schools Chess Championships is also run on Lichess by CSC.
Lichess is used by adults and juniors alike. It has a number of safeguarding features to keep children safe online. CSC will be making use of the “Kid Mode” setting for all accounts it distributes, meaning that students can neither send nor receive messages, nor make use of the server’s chat functions. For primary school pupils, we recommend ChessKid accounts.
How do I sign up my school pupils?
CSC will set up as many accounts as your school needs for you to allocate to your pupils. We simply need a contact at the school and the number of accounts you require. If you have any additional requirements (e.g. customised usernames, named accounts), please include those in the comments. To request free Lichess accounts for your school, please complete this form. Our guide for schools signing up for accounts can be read here.
How do I sign up as an individual?
If you’re a pupil at a secondary school, already have a Lichess account, and want to join our online club, you are very welcome to sign up. Using the “Community” menu in Lichess, select “Teams” and then “All teams”. Search for “CSC Secondary Schools” and click on the link to join. You can find details of our tournaments on the team page.
If you don’t have a Lichess account, you can create one free. For safeguarding reasons, we strongly recommend that you turn on the “Kid Mode” setting in your preferences as soon as you create the account. To help you get started with your Lichess account, we have written this short guide.
How else can CSC support chess at my school?
CSC can also deliver or support after school chess clubs and enrichment lessons in UK state secondary schools. To find out more, please complete our online form here.
