Where do Grandmasters play Chess? - Lichess vs. Chess.com

Let’s dive into the data and uncover some surprising trends.

Where Do Grandmasters Play Online?

The chart below shows the monthly number of verified Grandmasters who played at least one game on Chess.com or Lichess from 2008 to 2025.

Chess.com began gaining traction among grandmasters shortly after its launch in 2007. In contrast, our data shows the first verified GM on Lichess appearing only in 2014, and the platform remained far behind in GM activity for several years.

That changed rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Between January and April of that year, the number of active GMs on Lichess more than doubled, eventually peaking at 728 in January 2021. Chess.com hit its own peak slightly earlier, in May 2020, with 922 active grandmasters. With roughly 1,400 active grandmasters worldwide, these numbers suggest that a majority were playing online during the pandemic, many of them on both platforms.

Before 2020, both platforms were growing steadily. The pandemic, however, created a sharp surge in activity, followed by a slow post-pandemic decline. Lichess even caught up to Chess.com in 2021 and 2022, with near-equal GM participation. Since then, though, Lichess has seen a slow decline, while GM activity on Chess.com has remained more stable.

Has Lichess Caught Up to Chess.com?

While Chess.com leads in active grandmasters, Lichess actually surpassed it in total games played during 2020, as shown in the graph below.

This might seem surprising until you realize that Lichess is the preferred platform for Bullet games which inflate the game counts.

Lichess: Favorite for Bullet Chess

The graph below shows that Lichess became the preferred platform for Bullet chess. While there was already a trend towards Lichess overtaking Chess.com before the pandemic, the surge in online activity during 2020 pushed Lichess ahead. At its peak in May 2020, 128,000 Bullet games were played by grandmasters on Lichess in a single month, more than five times the number played on Chess.com during the same period.

Looking at Bullet time controls, 1+0 accounts for over 90% of Bullet games played by grandmasters on Lichess. Even faster “hyperbullet” formats, like ½+0 and 1⁄4+0, are less common, making up about 5% and 2% of the total, respectively.

Chess.com Leads in Blitz Chess

In contrast to Lichess, Chess.com leads in the Blitz category.

At the height of the pandemic in April/May 2020, both platforms saw similar volumes of Blitz games played by grandmasters. This period of parity likely indicates that many grandmasters were were exploring alternatives and testing both platforms.

However, following this peak, Blitz activity on Lichess dropped significantly. Meanwhile, the number of Blitz games on Chess.com has remained nearly double that, even increasing in 2024.

What Drives Grandmasters to Choose Lichess or Chess.com?

This section is speculative, but several factors likely influence a grandmaster’s platform choice. Chess.com hosts frequent events like Titled Tuesday, along with stream-friendly formats and prize competitions.

In contrast, Lichess offers a more minimalist interface and is speed-focused. Even Hikaru himself said that playing “feels a lot faster [on Lichess] than on Chess.com” (source: Twitch Clip), which may explain its appeal to players who prefer Bullet games.

How We Collected This Data

All data in this article comes from the ChessMonitor database, one of the largest chess databases in the world. It currently includes:

• 93 million games from Chess.com
• 82 million games from Lichess
• 10 million over-the-board, correspondence, and tournament games (in the Masters Database)

Our data covers all games played by grandmasters as well as those of other popular players. However, some limitations exist. For instance, some grandmasters may use multiple accounts, non-verified accounts, or even retire inactive ones, which could impact the statistics presented. In addition, in most cases the current account title was used (instead of the title at that point in the past) basically answering the question where today's GMs are playing chess.

Like our insights?

ChessMonitor generates analytics and statistics for chess players based on millions of chess games. Based on our data, we are able to produce infographics like the one you’ve seen here. Other examples include our ability to calculate FIDE Elo ratings from Online ratings or our historical analysis of FIDE ratings (from 1971 to 2024).

If you’d like to see more insights like this or have ideas for future info graphics, check out ChessMonitor.com and join the conversation in our Discord server.

Originally published on the ChessMonitor.com.