Lichess Chess Users Scraper

Lichess Chess Users Scraper

Scrape Lichess chess user profiles by username, up to a million per run. Each profile comes with ratings, game counts, titles, and online status. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Lichess's public API limits how many profiles you can pull and needs a token for anything beyond basic data. This reads the public user pages directly, so you can collect thousands of usernames in one run and get each profile back as a flat row. Feed it a list of Lichess usernames and it returns their ratings, game statistics, titles, and online status.

Who uses it	What they scrape Lichess for
Chess coaches	Build a database of student and opponent profiles to track rating progress over time.
Market researchers	Analyze the Lichess player base by collecting profiles from leaderboards or tournaments.
Data analysts	Gather chess user data for statistical analysis of ratings, activity, and titles.
App developers	Populate a chess app with Lichess user data without hitting API rate limits.
Esports organizers	Verify player identities and ratings for tournament seeding.

What it does

This Actor collects Lichess user profiles by username and returns each one as a flat row with ratings, game counts, titles, and online status.

• 👥 Bulk username input: paste up to a million Lichess usernames and collect them all in one run.
• ⚡ Fast scraping: profiles are fetched concurrently, so thousands of users complete in minutes.
• 📊 Flat row output: every profile is returned as a single row with ratings, game counts, titles, and online status.
• 🔒 No login needed: reads public Lichess pages, no API token or OAuth required.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Lichess data

📈 Track player ratings over time.

A chess coach collects profiles of their students every month to monitor rating changes and adjust training plans.

🔍 Build a player database.

A researcher scrapes Lichess leaderboards to compile a dataset of top players for analysis of rating distributions.

🏆 Verify tournament participants.

An esports organizer checks Lichess profiles of registered players to confirm their ratings and titles before seeding.

📊 Analyze the Lichess community.

A data analyst collects a random sample of usernames to study activity patterns, game counts, and title prevalence.

🧩 Enrich your chess app.

A developer uses the scraper to fetch Lichess user data for display in a third-party chess application.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API limits	Scrape thousands of profiles without Lichess API rate limits or token requirements.
Bulk collection	Input up to a million usernames and get all profiles in one dataset.
Consistent schema	Every profile returns the same fields, so you can merge and analyze easily.
Export anywhere	Download as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for your workflow.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on bulk collection of Lichess user profiles, while the competitors below add game analysis or cross-platform rating aggregation.

Feature	ParseForge	Chess Opponent Analyzer	Chess Ratings Aggregator
Scrape Lichess user profiles by username	Yes	Not listed	Yes
Bulk input of up to 1,000,000 usernames	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Return ratings, game counts, titles, and online status	Yes	Not listed	Yes
Analyze game history and opening repertoire	Not listed	Yes	Not listed
Aggregate ratings from FIDE, Chess.com, and Lichess	Not listed	Not listed	Yes
Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML	Yes	Not listed	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a list of Lichess usernames, and set a maximum number of users to collect per run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "usernames": [
    "thibault"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "usernames": [
    "thibault"
  ],
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0412 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$4.12
1,000 results	$41.20
10,000 results	$412.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Lichess Chess Users Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Lichess through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/lichess-chess-users-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your usernames are spelled correctly and that the list is not empty. Also ensure that maxItems is set to at least 1.

Why are some usernames skipped?

The Actor skips usernames that do not exist on Lichess or that have been closed. Verify the usernames manually.

Why is the run slow?

Large lists take time. You can increase the Apify plan's memory or reduce the number of usernames per run.

Why do I get an error about maxItems?

maxItems must be between 1 and 1,000,000. Set it to a valid number.

Can I scrape private profiles?

No, only public Lichess profiles are accessible. Private or closed accounts cannot be scraped.

FAQ

Question	Answer
How many usernames can I scrape in one run?	You can input up to 1,000,000 usernames per run. The Actor processes them concurrently, so large lists complete quickly.
Do I need a Lichess API token?	No. The Actor reads public Lichess profile pages directly, so no authentication or API key is required.
What data does each profile include?	Each profile returns ratings for bullet, blitz, rapid, classical, and other variants, plus game counts, titles, and online status. The exact fields are shown in the sample output.
Can I scrape profiles from a leaderboard or tournament?	Yes. First collect the usernames from the leaderboard or tournament page, then pass that list to this Actor.
What export formats are supported?	You can export the results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset.
Is this Actor legal to use?	You should only scrape public data that you are allowed to access. Lichess profiles are public, but check Lichess's terms of service and respect robots.txt.
How fast is the scraping?	The Actor uses concurrent requests, so it can collect hundreds of profiles per minute depending on your plan and Lichess's response times.
Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly?	Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run the Actor daily, weekly, or at any interval to keep your data fresh.
What if a username doesn't exist?	The Actor skips non-existent usernames and continues with the rest. You can check the run log for skipped entries.
Does this Actor work with Chess.com profiles?	No, this Actor only scrapes Lichess profiles. For Chess.com, you would need a different scraper.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Lichess.org. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.