Lichess and Take Take Take Sign Cooperation Agreement
Lichess, the beloved open-source chess platform, has partnered with Take Take Take, a new commercial venture linked to Magnus Carlsen, to provide its core playing infrastructure. This agreement validates Lichess's efficient open-source model against proprietary 'walled gardens' like Chess.com, positioning it as a foundational layer for online chess. Hacker News celebrates this as a triumph for FOSS, demonstrating its technical superiority and ability to foster competition against market monopolies.
The Lowdown
Lichess has announced a significant cooperation agreement with Take Take Take, a new commercial entity entering the online chess space. This partnership will see Take Take Take leverage Lichess's robust, free/libre, and open-source infrastructure as its primary play zone, rather than building its own from scratch.
Key details of the agreement include:
- Take Take Take will utilize Lichess as the underlying infrastructure for its new play zone.
- Lichess will retain its core values, remaining free, open-source, and independent, with no changes to its existing platform.
- Users of Take Take Take will create Lichess accounts and play games directly on Lichess servers, benefiting from Lichess's established privacy, data integrity, and moderation standards.
- Take Take Take is committed to contributing to Lichess through direct means (e.g., financial contributions) and indirectly (e.g., increased visibility).
- Lichess frames this as a major victory for open-source software, demonstrating its capability to serve as a superior alternative to proprietary systems and encouraging healthier competition within the chess ecosystem.
An update to the announcement proactively addresses community concerns, reassuring users about issues like potential commodification of players, Lichess's autonomy, the involvement of investors like Peter Thiel, and the security of user data. Lichess emphasizes that user privacy is paramount, no data will be sold, and the partnership is designed to cover additional operational costs without compromising Lichess's philosophy.
This collaboration positions Lichess not just as a playing platform, but as a foundational infrastructure layer for free online chess, further solidifying its role in the global chess community while staying true to its open-source ethos and challenging monopolistic trends.
The Gossip
Lichess's Laudable Leap
The Hacker News community overwhelmingly lauded Lichess, praising its open-source nature, clean interface, and exceptional optimization that allows it to operate with remarkable efficiency and low costs. Many view this partnership as a well-deserved validation and a financial lifeline for the volunteer-driven project, demonstrating the superior competitive advantages of free and open-source software over proprietary alternatives like Chess.com.
Chessboard's Competitive Currents
Discussions revolved around the dynamic and competitive landscape of online chess, specifically focusing on Magnus Carlsen's history with Chess.com and his new venture, Take Take Take. Some commentators expressed empathy for Chess.com, noting Carlsen's significant influence and his pattern of competing with platforms he was previously involved with. Others dismissed this sentiment, viewing it as standard business practice and a healthy development for the chess market, fostering innovation and challenging existing monopolies.
Infrastructural Ingenuity & Cloud Critique
Lichess's technical prowess, particularly its ability to handle millions of users on dedicated servers for a minimal cost, was a significant point of discussion. This led to a broader debate about the common assumption that cloud providers like AWS/GCP/Azure are necessary for scale. Many commenters argued that dedicated hardware often provides better cost-efficiency and performance for projects that don't require rapid, unpredictable scaling, suggesting that over-reliance on the cloud can be an expensive and unnecessary optimization.