Starting in Spring 2019, the Q300 Chess Team has a “virtual home” – lichess.org, a very popular online chess hub, which happens to be 100% free. We use it to keep everyone connected, and to host various events – tournaments, simultaneous exhibitions, group lessons, puzzle challenges. LiChess has become especially critical during the COVID-19 crisis – it is our community spot to get together and stay connected.

Email us at Q300ChessTeam AT gmail DOT com if you have any questions.

Table of Contents

  1. The Basics
  2. Playing
  3. Learning (simple)
  4. Learning (advanced)
  5. Social
  6. Mobile


The Basics

Top


Playing

  • To challenge a friend* (see “Social” section below for how to add friends):
    • Home Page -> “Play with a friend” button on the right
    • NOTE: your” friends” also show up in a box in the bottom right corner.  To challenge one, hover over their username, and click the button that looks like 2 swords
  • To play another human:
    • Home Page -> “Quick pairing” : system will auto-match you with someone with a similar rating
    • Home Page -> “Lobby”: clickable list of players who are offering to play a game
  • To play the computer:
    • Home Page -> “Play with the machine” button on the right. You can select the level.
  • To challenge other Q300 students who are online:
    • Go to the “Q300 Chess Team” team page (if you haven’t joined yet, see “Social” section)
    • Players who are online have a green light next to them.  Hover over their username and click the button that looks like 2 swords.

Top


Learning (simple)

  • Beginners: take interactive lessons:
    • “LEARN” (top menu) -> “Practice”
    • “LEARN” (top menu) -> “Chess basics” (if you are totally new)
  • Everyone above Beginner: solve training puzzles:
    • “LEARN” (top menu) -> “Puzzles”
  • Everyone above Beginner: watch free video lessons:
    • “WATCH” (top menu) -> “Video Library”
    • Use the left menu to filter by topic

Top


Learning (advanced)

  • To catalog your tournament games on LiChess:
    • Create a new Study: “Learn” -> “Study” -> create a new one (‘+’ sign on desktop)
    • Name it something like “John’s Tournament Games 2019”
    • Settings: Visibility=Invite Only, Enable sync = No
    • Add each game as a separate chapter in the study.
    • Share the study with the coaches: use “ADD MEMBERS”.  Saudin’s username is nychesskids.
  • To review one of your games / find blunders:
    • Go to the relevant game or study chapter
      • Your username in the upper right -> “Profile” -> look for “games” or “studies”
    • Request a computer analysis
      • For games – select “ANALYSIS BOARD” option on the right
      • For study chapters – look for the computer analysis option on the bottom
    • Once the computer is done analyzing, it will display a summary. Click on “blunders” to drill down into specific examples.
    • NOTE: Computers are very good at identifying blunders, but not as good with mistakes/inaccuracies. You should never take the computer’s suggestion for granted – try to understand why the computer classified your move a blunder. There are several possibilities:
      • a) You missed a much better move
      • b) Your move allows your opponent to greatly improve their position
  • To continue playing from a position in one of your games:
    • Start reviewing a game (see above)
    • Click the lower right menu button, which looks like three horizontal bars
    • Select “Continue from here” (visible if you scroll up a little)
  • To turn your mistakes into puzzles:
    • Start reviewing a game (see above)
    • Scroll down and select “Computer analysis” in the bottom menu
    • Click the “REQUEST A COMPUTER ANALYSIS” button below the board
    • Click the “LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES” button at the bottom right of the board
    • NOTE: you only need to request computer analysis once per game.  Once it’s done, “Learn from your mistakes” will always be available.
    • Check out the LiChess blog post about this feature.

Top


Social

  • Join our LiChess team pages:
    • Q300: https://lichess.org/team/q300-chess-team
    • NYChessKids: https://lichess.org/team/nychesskids
    • Use the”join” button. Please put Student Name, Grade, Parent Name, Email and Mobile number in the text field. You’ll also have to solve a puzzle to prove you are a human… (ask your kids for help)
    • NOTE: If you have “Kid Mode” enabled (see below), you may not be able to access the team page.
  • Once you join the Q300 team, check out our Q300 roster page for a list of kids names, grades, and LiChess usernames. Email us Q300ChessTeam AT gmail DOT com to get the password.
  • To add a username as a friend:
    • Find them by using the search button near the top right corner
    • “Follow” them, by clicking the “thumbs up” button in the menu on the right
  • To enable “Kid Mode” (all communication features off):
    • Select your username in the upper right corner
    • Select “Preferences”
    • Select “Kid mode” in the left menu and follow the instructions
    • NOTE: team pages and chat will not be available when kid mode is turned on
  • To disable in-game chat:
    • When you are playing a game, there is a chat room on the left side of the board
    • You can click the box next to “Chat room” to enable or disable it
    • Your selection will be saved for future games
    • Beware – this can be a little buggy sometimes.  For example, when you re-enable it, it sometimes doesn’t start working again until you refresh the website

Top


Mobile Version

  • LiChess.org can fully be used from a mobile browser.  It functions just as well.
  • There is also a mobile app, available for both iOS and Android.  It is a little different from the desktop version:
    • Different UI, but still very fast and responsive
    • “Practice” is not available
    • “Video library” is not available
    • Team pages are not available

Top