Lichess, the world's leading free, libre, and open-source chess platform, has shared its comprehensive development report covering the first half of 2026 with chess enthusiasts. Ranging from mobile updates and site improvements to live broadcasts and special events, the enhancements demonstrate how the platform continues to grow thanks to the donations and unwavering trust of the global chess community. The work carried out since January aims to elevate the user experience to the highest level.
Transitioning from Volunteerism to Professional Infrastructure Support
Since its earliest days, Lichess has relied on the informal help of volunteer developers from around the world to build and maintain its platform and tools. Through these global contributions, new features were added, bugs were fixed, and the sophistication of the platform's technological arsenal was continuously expanded. Over time, however, Lichess has become dependent not only on its core platform, lila, but also on numerous functions and tools that operate off-lila.
To ensure the sustainable development and maintenance of these critical off-lila tools, the Lichess team took an important step. Ben, a developer known on the platform as @rook_the_cook, was hired part-time starting June 1 to assist the team for 20 hours per week. Having previously worked in EdTech, Ben has been a regular contributor to Lichess, spearheading various projects and actively participating in countless developer discussions.
New Payment Portal and Moderation Tools
One of the first major innovations rolled out following Ben's hiring is a new in-house payment portal. Built for extensibility, this system will also serve tournament prize winners by allowing them to claim their prizes. The tool will be trialed over the next couple of months with selected tournament winners, and its rapid development has been greatly appreciated by the Lichess team. Following the rollout of this project, Ben will now focus his efforts on moderation tools, which are vital for the security and order of the platform.
Editorial assessment
Lichess's decision to hire a part-time developer specifically to maintain off-lila tools highlights the massive scale the open-source chess ecosystem has reached. In particular, the rollout of an in-house payment system to distribute tournament prizes, followed by a planned focus on moderation tools, demonstrates the platform's commitment to supporting both competitive tournament organizations and a fair play environment with a more professional infrastructure.