Benefits of Writing on Lichess Blog

I started writing on Lichess 2 years back. In 2024 I wrote 33 blog posts and got 340k+ views. Most of them provide high-value and fun articles like top chess YouTubers, etc.
In this blog post, I want to mention the benefits I got by writing the Lichess blog and how you can start writing on Lichess.
I always admire the work the Lichess team is doing and am very grateful that they have open-sourced all the data. Because of Lichess, hundreds of chess websites were built and hundreds of chess coaches getting new students.

Benefits of Writing on Lichess

340k+ Views

I made a list last week with posts I published on Lichess and the views I got. In total, I got 340k views for my last year's posts. The most popular article was the Best Chess Youtubers listicle.
I personally liked following the blogs that I wrote.

• 11 Practical Tips to Attract & Retain Students
• 3 Unique Stalemates Under 20 Moves
• 5 Step Guide to an Adult Improvement in Chess

Recognition

At least 20 people met me and told me they got benefit from my blog posts. It always feels nice to get some recognition for your work. My intention was never to make money through writing blog posts.

New Coaching Enquiries

This is probably a major benefit in terms of making money and providing value. I got 100+ chess coaching inquiries last year. Most of them are from India, USA, and Germany. Out of 100, I believe 60-70 are because of my Lichess blogs. I was not able to accept due to limited time.
Apart from coaching inquiries, I got some freelance writing offers and 1 job offer.

The happiness of giving back to the community

I never started writing a blog to make money. That was on the list but not the primary goal. My first project was the Chess Article website where I have posted more than 100 blogs without making a single penny. Then I started publishing on Lichess.

Tips to write on Lichess Blog

Lichess is an open-source website where all the users are allowed to write a blog. They have a very good algorithm to get your blog on top. Even as an unrated or lower-rated player, you can start writing on Lichess. You don’t need to be a titled chess player. Following are some points to consider while writing on Lichess.

High-Quality Blogs without AI

This is the first point. I have seen many blogs on Lichess written by AI. Players just gave a simple title prompt to the LLM model and copy paste that on Lichess. Think about how you can give benefit to chess community and don’t post any random article.

Regularity

Not a must to do but better to have some regularity. Start with one article in a week or two in a month. Having a schedule will help you to do tasks on time. Regularity always helps to get better reach on any social platform.

Topic Selection

This is where players struggle the most. Many of my friends ask me on what to write. They can’t think about the topic. Do not write news article-type content. Try to write content that can be helpful after 5-7 years. Following are some topic suggestions

• Tournament Review
• Book Review
• Cover a specific chess topic
• Chess Progress or Journey

Don’t write with any intentions of profits

Do not write with intentions of making money, getting new inquiries or so. Just write for fun. If you have any intentions, you will then not be regular.

Cross Post on every other platform

Once you write a post on Lichess, cross-post it on every other possible platform. Following is the list.

• Reddit Forums
• Facebook Articles
• Substack
• Chess com
• Medium

This will give you more reach and help you to understand how the audience reacts on different platforms.

Hope this article helps you to get some motivation and will help you start writing on Lichess

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