Lichess4545 Terms of Service

Last updated: 14 July 2025

Introduction

The Lichess4545 leagues are officially organised and run by the online chess site Lichess.org (“Lichess”). Signing up to the leagues requires no payment.

This page lists the Lichess4545 Terms of Service, which comprise an additional and optional extension to the original Lichess Terms of Service that is only relevant for anyone who chooses to sign up for one of the Lichess4545 leagues. The Terms of Service are only valid if agreed and accepted in conjunction with the Lichess4545 privacy policy.

The Lichess4545 community encompasses a wide range of online chess leagues, summarised in a separate overview. This page refers to all these leagues collectively as either "Lichess4545 leagues" or simply "leagues".

In addition, it refers to two types of leagues organised within the community: "website leagues" and "community leagues":

The term "website leagues" is used when referring to leagues that accept registrations submitted through the Lichess4545 website. Currently, there are three such leagues: the 4545 Team, LoneWolf and Chess960 leagues.
The term "community leagues" is used when referring to leagues that do not accept online registrations. These leagues are instead only open to members of the Lichess4545 Slack workspace. If someone who is not a member of the workspace wants to play in a community league, they must first register for a website league, have their registration approved by a league moderator, receive an invitation to join the Lichess4545 Slack workspace, and then join the workspace.

By signing up and playing in one of the Lichess4545 leagues, you agree to accept and/or comply with all of the following:

The rules and conditions of the Lichess4545 leagues, as set out on this page;
The rules of each individual Lichess4545 league that you choose to sign up for;
The terms of the Lichess4545 privacy policy;
The sharing of your email address with Slack Technologies, Inc. for the purpose of inviting approved registrants to join the Lichess4545 Slack workspace; and
The documentation of players’ league game histories and performance ratings on the Lichess4545 website.

Important legal points

Limitation of liability

As volunteers who run the Lichess4545 leagues, the leagues’ administrators and moderators work hard to provide the best experience for players and ensure the smooth running of the leagues. The leagues are, however, offered “as-is” and “as available”, and there is no guarantee that they will always function without disruption, delays, or imperfections, or otherwise be free of errors. To the extent permitted by law, Lichess also disclaims all warranties, whether expressed or implied, including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement - as unlikely as these are to arise. Lichess also does not control what anyone might say or do when someone interacts with them on Slack or Lichess during league-related activities, and therefore Lichess is not responsible for any actions or conduct during these interactions, or any content shared.

The leagues’ administrators and moderators cannot predict when any issues might arise with the leagues or the services they rely on. As such, Lichess’s liability shall be limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and under no circumstances will Lichess be liable to you for direct or indirect damages - be they actual, consequential, special, exemplary, compensatory or otherwise punitive - arising as a result of these Terms or the operation of the leagues.

Jurisdiction and conflict of terms

If there is any conflict between rules expressed here and with rules adopted by individual Lichess4545 leagues, the Lichess4545 Terms take precedence.

If there is any conflict between the Terms expressed here and with Lichess’s Terms of Service, Lichess’s Terms take precedence. Similarly, any further waivers, protections, or legal rights afforded to Lichess, if missing from these Terms, shall also be afforded to the Lichess4545 leagues.

The leagues share the same jurisdiction as Lichess, and the same physical address as Lichess.

Player Eligibility

Anyone who wishes to play in the Lichess4545 league must:

Be over 16 years of age;
Not have violated Lichess's terms of service on any of their current or past account(s);
Not have lost a game due to a “cheat detected” mark on any of their current or past account(s);
Not have previously been banned from participating in the leagues; and
Not have previously registered for the leagues under a different Lichess account (unless granted permission to do so by league moderators - see the single-account rule section below).

Lichess reserves the right to check the eligibility of Lichess4545 registrants. See the Lichess4545 privacy policy for further relevant details. Ultimately, eligibility for the leagues is determined at the discretion of league moderators, who reserve the right to deem registrants or active league members eligible or ineligible for any reason without having to provide prior warning or evidence for their decisions.

The single account rule

Players must use a single Lichess account when registering for and playing in all Lichess4545 leagues. Registering and playing in the leagues under multiple accounts is prohibited, as is closing one account and then registering under a new account. There may be some exceptions to this rule:

Community leagues might allow players to play under a different account.
The league moderators may, under some circumstances, allow players to join the leagues Slack workspace under a new Lichess account.

Account closure rule

If a player closes their Lichess account while playing in a season of one or more league(s), and the account is not re-opened before the the next round’s pairings in that league are generated or before league moderators close the season, the player will be treated as though they have broken one of the cheating rules: they will be withdrawn from all leagues and their games in current season(s) will be revised to forfeit losses. If they later choose to re-open their account, they can register again for the leagues and may be readmitted to the league Slack workspace. However, all previously forfeited games will remain forfeited.

In light of this rule, players are advised to consider the implications of their actions before they choose to close their Lichess account during a season.

Reasonable behaviour

All registrants and league members are expected to behave reasonably and responsibly in all league-related communications and interactions.

In all circumstances, league moderators reserve the right to define what constitutes unreasonable behaviour, altough clear examples would include:

Any conduct or language that the moderators consider to be offensive or harassing.
Posting unsolicited messages like junk mail, chain letters, or general spam.

Offensive, harassing or unsolicited messages will be removed from the league Slack workspace.

These are just some suggestions of what moderators would consider to be against the spirit of the Lichess4545 community, and do not describe all activity that could or would be sanctioned. League moderators always have the final say in these matters, and penalties will be applied at their discretion.

In all but the most serious cases, players who are determined to have behaved unreasonably will be given one warning by league moderators, before being banned from the leagues and removed from the league Slack workspace for any subsequent offences.

Leagues and Participation

All leagues are organized on the Slack workspace lichess4545.slack.com.

To participate in a website league players must register for the respective season on the website lichess4545.com. To play in a community league players should follow the respective instructions in the Slack workspace.

Once a registration is approved, the player will receive an invitation to our Slack workspace if they are not already a member.

Players must join the Slack workspace to participate in the leagues. In addition, each player must link their lichess and Slack account once before participating in their first season in one of our website leagues.

Players who have not joined the workspace and have not linked their lichess and Slack accounts at the beginning of a round will not participate in that round.
To link the accounts, after joining the Slack workspace players have to send a direct message to the league bot @chesster with the single command link and follow the instructions in @chesster’s response.
Players should seek help from moderators if required.

There are dedicated channels in the Slack workspace for each website league. These channels are listed in the league-specific rules. Players must join those channels.

League moderators can be contacted by sending the message @chesster summon mods in the general channel of the respective league.