• Setting the scene
  • Final standings
    • How the title race played out
    • Best scorers
  • Stats - overview
  • Stats - by board/rating
  • Openings
  • Openings sunburst 🌞
  • Awards 🏆
  • Stats - tables 📚
    • Best performances / highest accuracy
    • Time spent / strongest opponents
    • Comebacks and upsets
    • Dawdlers and instant movers
    • Longest thinks, time trouble addicts, and lucky escapes
    • Misc. facts
  • About

Setting the scene


This season’s games were played between 17 August 2021 and 1 November 2021.

152 players participated, 83 (55%) of whom were new to the league.

In all, 510 games were played over the season. The season’s ‘unplayed pairing’ rate was 12.4%.1

White won 254 games (49.8%), 34 games (6.7%) were drawn, and Black won 212 games (41.6%). The right-hand chart shows game results by colour for each board or average rating band.2


Final standings


1st place

walfie

2nd place

egoncharik

3rd place

TalentedPoet

How the title race played out

Best scorers

Here’s everyone who achieved a plus score of +5 or higher this season3:

egoncharik (9/11), walfie (8.5/10), SteveMcKinnon (8/10), mxklawz (7/9)

Players with plus scores of +6 or better get the Ace award.

Stats - overview

Includes games ranked at or above the 90th percentile by number of moves.

Rank
Players / Link
Date
Moves
1
Thu 28 Oct 2021
87
2
Fri 1 Oct 2021
79
3
Sat 9 Oct 2021
78
4
Sun 3 Oct 2021
77
5
Tue 31 Aug 2021
76
5
Fri 29 Oct 2021
76
6
Thu 26 Aug 2021
74
6
Sat 30 Oct 2021
74
6
Mon 11 Oct 2021
74
7
Wed 22 Sep 2021
72
1–10 of 55 rows

Includes games ranked at or above the 90th percentile by total clock time.4

Rank
Players / Link
Date
Total time
1
Sun 10 Oct 2021
1h 58m 38s
2
Fri 29 Oct 2021
1h 57m 33s
3
Fri 17 Sep 2021
1h 57m 13s
4
Mon 11 Oct 2021
1h 54m 9s
5
Fri 20 Aug 2021
1h 50m 39s
6
Sun 24 Oct 2021
1h 49m 56s
7
Sun 26 Sep 2021
1h 49m 40s
8
Thu 28 Oct 2021
1h 49m 12s
9
Sun 3 Oct 2021
1h 49m 8s
10
Mon 23 Aug 2021
1h 48m 11s
1–10 of 55 rows

Stats - by board/rating

The games with the lowest combined ACPL (including draws).

Players / Link
Result
Sum ACPL
Date
0-1
32
Thu 16 Sep 2021
1/2-1/2
33
Thu 16 Sep 2021
0-1
41
Sat 4 Sep 2021
0-1
42
Sun 19 Sep 2021
0-1
42
Sat 23 Oct 2021
0-1
42
Fri 8 Oct 2021
0-1
43
Sun 12 Sep 2021
0-1
43
Sat 23 Oct 2021
0-1
43
Sat 9 Oct 2021
1-0
44
Fri 1 Oct 2021

The decisive games with the lowest combined ACPL.

Players / Link
Result
Sum ACPL
Date
0-1
32
Thu 16 Sep 2021
0-1
41
Sat 4 Sep 2021
0-1
42
Sun 19 Sep 2021
0-1
42
Sat 23 Oct 2021
0-1
42
Fri 8 Oct 2021
0-1
43
Sun 12 Sep 2021
0-1
43
Sat 23 Oct 2021
0-1
43
Sat 9 Oct 2021
1-0
44
Fri 1 Oct 2021
1-0
45
Wed 27 Oct 2021
0-1
45
Sat 16 Oct 2021

Openings

All openings played in the season, excluding variations.

#
Opening
G
%
1-0
½-½
0-1
Eval
Rating
1
Sicilian Defense
69
50
46
7
46
0.6
1646
2
Caro-Kann Defense
63
49
44
10
46
0.9
1640
3
Queen's Gambit Declined
45
57
49
16
36
0.5
1630
4
Queen's Pawn Game
28
25
25
0
75
0.5
1593
5
French Defense
26
56
54
4
42
1.3
1621
6
King's Indian Defense
24
33
29
8
63
0.8
1685
7
Italian Game
23
72
70
4
26
1.1
1596
8
English Opening
19
66
63
5
32
0.8
1689
9
Scandinavian Defense
18
47
44
6
50
0.6
1649
10
Slav Defense
16
56
50
13
38
0.2
1600
1–10 of 54 rows

White’s top-scoring openings, excluding variations. Minimum 10 games played.

#
Opening
G
%
1-0
½-½
0-1
Eval
Rating
1
Nimzo-Larsen Attack
15
73
73
0
27
0.4
1678
2
Italian Game
23
72
70
4
26
1.1
1596
3
English Opening
19
66
63
5
32
0.8
1689
4
Queen's Gambit Declined
45
57
49
16
36
0.5
1630
5
Slav Defense
16
56
50
13
38
0.2
1600
6
French Defense
26
56
54
4
42
1.3
1621
7
Pirc Defense
12
54
42
25
33
0.6
1518
8
Sicilian Defense
69
50
46
7
46
0.6
1646
9
Caro-Kann Defense
63
49
44
10
46
0.9
1640
10
Scandinavian Defense
18
47
44
6
50
0.6
1649
1–10 of 13 rows

Black’s top-scoring openings, excluding variations. Minimum 10 games played.

#
Opening
G
%
0-1
½-½
1-0
Eval
Rating
1
Queen's Pawn Game
28
75
75
0
25
0.5
1593
2
King's Indian Defense
24
67
63
8
29
0.8
1685
3
Scotch Game
13
65
62
8
31
0.5
1622
4
Scandinavian Defense
18
53
50
6
44
0.6
1649
5
Caro-Kann Defense
63
51
46
10
44
0.9
1640
6
Sicilian Defense
69
50
46
7
46
0.6
1646
7
Pirc Defense
12
46
33
25
42
0.6
1518
8
French Defense
26
44
42
4
54
1.3
1621
9
Slav Defense
16
44
38
13
50
0.2
1600
10
Queen's Gambit Declined
45
43
36
16
49
0.5
1630
1–10 of 13 rows

The most played gambits over the season.5

Rank
Name
Games
White score (%)
1
Evans Gambit
11
1
2
Smith-Morra Gambit
4
1
3
Queen's Gambit Accepted
4
1
4
Vienna Gambit
4
0
5
Scotch Gambit
3
1
6
Greco Gambit
2
1
7
Englund Gambit
2
1
8
Ponziani Gambit
2
0
9
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
1
1
9
King Knight's Gambit
1
1
1–10 of 18 rows

The players who enjoyed the most success when playing gambits.6 Includes everyone who scored at least 50 per cent across at least two gambit games.

Rank
Player
Games
% Score
W
B
Choices
1
Force_Kin
3
100
3
0
Evans Gambit, Smith-Morra Gambit
2
ishallwooopyoass
2
100
1
1
Englund Gambit, Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
2
Ledjimmylorenzo
2
100
2
0
Evans Gambit

Openings sunburst 🌞

Click on the image below to see a sunburst plot of all openings played in the season.

Opening star placeholder

Awards 🏆

Assorted awards to celebrate the season. See the footnote for more details about each award.7

Award
Name / Description
Winner(s)
Runner(s)-up
Aces
Aces
Scored +6 or better
egoncharik, SteveMcKinnon, walfie
Archbishop of Accuracy
Archbishop of Accuracy
Lowest ACPL in undecided positions after move 10
saltech
Achieved a season ACPL of 63.2
egoncharik, SteveMcKinnon
Bullet Boss
Bullet Boss
Most moves made in under 0.5s
vishAnan
33 insta-moves
B4D_0M3N, RussellHawkinsChess
David Award
David Award
Faced the strongest opposition
SteveMcKinnon
Opponents' record: 55/71
walfie, jpokerflat
Gambit Guru
Gambit Guru
Best score playing gambits
Force_Kin
Scored 100% from 3 gambit games
ishallwooopyoass, Ledjimmylorenzo
Giri Award
Giri Award
Most draws
CFeerick, DarioH
Achieved 3 draws
Grischuk's Cousin
Grischuk's Cousin
Least time remaining after 10th move, and still winning
walfie
Had 15m 12s left after 10 moves
mxklawz, KapuBen
Houdini Award
Houdini Award
Biggest comebacks
mxklawz
Achieved 7 notable comeback wins/draws
skyeanna, Agood2inches
Intimate with Increment
Intimate with Increment
Highest percentage of moves played with < 1 min left
jpokerflat
22.5%
KapuBen, SupraScud
Musing or Snoozing
Musing or Snoozing
Longest time spent on a move
foteboligames
Spent 21m 16s
opus71a, Nairwolf
MVP Award
MVP Award
Best performance rating relative to initial rating
foteboligames
+5-2=1 perf 1856, initially 1275
heidigjr, Yakruna30
Primates of Precision
Primates of Precision
Most games < 10 ACPL
jackaardvark
2 games
Rookie Award
Rookie Award
Best relative perf. by a new league player
FrenchToast91
+4-0=0 perf 2500, initially 1767
foteboligames, heidigjr
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell
Most moves made with < 5s left before winning
mxklawz
5 move(s) in https://lichess.org/oXQOtooi
mxklawz, walfie
Slingshot Specialist
Slingshot Specialist
Achieved the most upsets across the season
foteboligames
5 upsets (biggest rating gap: 414)
Scott9315, connorgreenwell
Tarjan Award
Tarjan Award
Achieved the biggest upset
foteboligames
https://lichess.org/uIlw43DY (rating gap: 414)
foteboligames, Ezze_13
Tetrarch of Time
Tetrarch of Time
Spent the most clock time across the season
lepertoe
8h 2m 27s
Thaitanium101, ztraynor

Stats - tables 📚

Tons of detailed stats for your reading pleasure. All tables in this section are sortable and searchable - feel free to explore!

Best performances / highest accuracy

This table shows players’ relative performance ratings – that is, their performance rating over the season minus their initial rating before their first game.8 Includes everyone with a positive relative performance rating over at least five games.

#
Player
Games
W
D
L
Initial
Perf
Diff.
1
foteboligames
8
5
1
2
1275
1856
581
2
heidigjr
6
5
0
1
1479
2016
537
3
Yakruna30
9
6
1
2
1452
1904
452
4
Scott9315
8
4
1
3
1373
1780
407
5
egoncharik
11
8
2
1
1566
1961
395
6
thefortyozlemma
7
5
0
2
1486
1855
369
7
connorgreenwell
9
5
0
4
1411
1764
353
8
Skift2
9
5
0
4
1435
1701
266
9
walfie
10
8
1
1
1771
2035
264
10
Cornelius25
9
5
0
4
1450
1705
255
1–10 of 46 rows

All players who played at least five games and achieved a season ACPL in the 20th percentile or below. Note that ‘season ACPL’ differs from Lichess game-wide ACPL figures, as it excludes opening moves as well as most moves played in objectively decided positions. See the footnote for full details.9 ACPLs based on Lichess’s published figures are provided for comparison purposes.

Rank
Player
Games
Season ACPL
Lichess ACPL
1
saltech
5
63.2
33.9
2
egoncharik
11
70.0
42.5
3
SteveMcKinnon
10
70.8
39.9
4
walfie
9
71.1
38.6
5
ztraynor
10
71.7
41.6
6
DarioH
6
73.1
38.5
7
b4dger
8
74.8
44.1
8
B4D_0M3N
11
76.7
39.6
9
Yakruna30
9
80.7
49.1
10
mxklawz
8
81.0
50.6
1–10 of 20 rows

Time spent / strongest opponents

The 50 players who spent the most clock time over the season.

Rank
Player
Games
Total time spent
1
lepertoe
10
8h 2m 27s
2
Thaitanium101
11
7h 35m 52s
3
ztraynor
10
7h 32m 11s
4
walfie
10
7h 22m 4s
5
SupraScud
11
7h 13m 54s
6
SteveMcKinnon
10
7h 7m 31s
7
ebisdikian
11
7h 7m 6s
8
restausverkauf
11
6h 49m 38s
9
egoncharik
11
6h 48m 25s
10
hamsterpoot
11
6h 46m 36s
1–10 of 50 rows

Minimum 3 games played.

Rank
Player
Games
Moves
Time spent per move
Percentile
1
Nairwolf
7
94
1m 41.4s
100
2
jpokerflat
5
145
1m 24.3s
99
3
kelvindo
4
106
1m 19.9s
98
4
opus71a
9
213
1m 18.2s
97
5
Archilas
7
178
1m 18.1s
96
6
JocelynHeckenkamp
3
59
1m 16.8s
95
7
trujp1
4
99
1m 13.3s
94
8
Force_Kin
11
256
1m 11.5s
93
9
hamsterpoot
11
270
1m 11.4s
92
10
teg
4
106
1m 11.2s
91
1–10 of 124 rows
...

The players who faced the best-scoring opponents over the season, when judged by their collective score over all their other games. Suggested by Tranzoo.

#
Player
Opp Games
Opp Pts
Opp %
1
SteveMcKinnon
71
55
77
2
walfie
84
60.5
72
3
jpokerflat
42
29.5
70
3
ZivanKasparov
42
29.5
70
4
Yakruna30
59
41
69
5
b4dger
75
51
68
6
egoncharik
73
49.5
68
7
mxklawz
76
51
67
8
foteboligames
58
38.5
66
9
Scott9315
61
40
66
1–10 of 60 rows

Comebacks and upsets

The players who achieved the most significant comeback wins and draws over the season.10 Suggested by Lou-E.

Rank
Player
CB Games
Wins from < -6
Wins from < -3
Draws from < -6
Draws from < -3
1
mxklawz
7
2
3
1
1
2
skyeanna
4
4
0
0
0
3
Agood2inches
4
3
1
0
0
4
CFeerick
5
1
1
2
1
4
Cornelius25
3
3
0
0
0
4
noeom
4
2
1
0
1
5
AngBorxley
4
1
2
1
0
6
dama_x_rey
3
2
1
0
0
6
foteboligames
3
2
1
0
0
6
ishallwooopyoass
3
2
1
0
0
1–10 of 102 rows
...

Everyone who defeated an opponent who outrated them by at least 100 points.

1–10 of 104 rows
...

Everyone who achieved multiple wins over opponents rated at least 50 points higher.

Rank
Player
Total Upset Margin
Upsets
Avg Upset Margin
Biggest Margin
1
foteboligames
1736
5
347.2
414
2
Scott9315
1125
4
281.3
318
3
connorgreenwell
984
5
196.8
272
4
Cornelius25
977
5
195.4
232
5
Skift2
841
4
210.3
229
6
Yakruna30
820
5
164.0
193
7
heidigjr
775
5
155.0
187
8
thefortyozlemma
726
4
181.5
234
9
dama_x_rey
653
3
217.7
247
9
danimal_t
653
2
326.5
352
1–10 of 26 rows

Dawdlers and instant movers

Players who had the least time left after only 10 moves…but still managed to win! Suggested by Silkthewanderer.

Players who made at least five ‘instant’ moves (in under 0.5s), including pre-moves.

Rank
Player
Instant moves
1
vishAnan
33
2
B4D_0M3N
24
3
RussellHawkinsChess
18
4
CJHendo
16
5
mmgoo
14
6
MiaAnthonyPhD
13
6
pdesaiii
13
7
Thaitanium101
11
8
Donaun
9
8
ebisdikian
9
1–10 of 27 rows

Longest thinks, time trouble addicts, and lucky escapes

The longest times spent on a single move.

Top 100 shown.

#
Player
Time spent
Colour
Move
Link
1
foteboligames
21m 16s
White
31
2
opus71a
18m 0s
Black
15
3
Nairwolf
13m 5s
White
11
4
JocelynHeckenkamp
12m 57s
White
9
5
opus71a
11m 54s
White
18
6
ztraynor
11m 7s
Black
14
8
opus71a
11m 2s
Black
17
9
Thaitanium101
10m 59s
Black
11
10
mxklawz
10m 55s
Black
11
1–10 of 100 rows
...

Shows players by proportion of moves made in time trouble (defined as having less than a minute remaining on the clock). Includes everyone who played at least 100 moves over the season while making at least one move in time trouble.

#
Player
All moves
With < 1min left
Time Trouble %
1
jpokerflat
191
43
22.5%
2
KapuBen
356
64
18.0%
3
SupraScud
391
56
14.3%
4
lepertoe
467
59
12.6%
5
mxklawz
353
44
12.5%
6
Thaitanium101
430
52
12.1%
7
ttafoley
223
24
10.8%
8
egoncharik
466
45
9.7%
9
ztraynor
529
43
8.1%
10
walfie
427
28
6.6%
1–10 of 27 rows

Players who made moves with under 5 seconds left on their clock…and still won!11

Player
Moves with under 5s left
Least time left
Link

Misc. facts

All games in the season that ended in a notable checkmate pattern…that I can detect successfully 😄. That means this currently includes all Anastasia’s, Arabian, back rank, hook, and smothered mates. To see game details, open the image in a different tab or window. Source script.


About

  • This report was compiled on 30 December 2021.
  • These statistics are presented for general interest only. They are not guaranteed to be comprehensive, complete12, accurate, or up to date. They may be periodically revised to incorporate updates and bugfixes.
  • Any player determined by Lichess to have violated their Terms of Service when this report was compiled should not appear in the detailed statistics.13
  • Homepage / source code
  • Acknowledgements: Noun Project for the award icons; Simon Ilincev for chess_graph, which produces the openings sunburst plots.

  1. There are several reasons why a pairing might not end up being played, including scheduling difficulties, a lack of available replacements, or one of the players not showing up at the start time!↩︎

  2. The number of games played in this statistic can differ from the number of games played in the season, as it excludes games where the result of the pairing was later changed to a forfeit win or loss.↩︎

  3. “Plus” score = played wins - played losses. Also, these season scores exclude any unplayed games, forfeit results or byes.↩︎

  4. A game’s total clock time is the sum of both players’ move times from move 2 onwards.↩︎

  5. For these statistics, a played opening line is termed a gambit if it arises from an opening or variation that’s commonly associated with one side sacrificing some material in the opening (in return for compensation) and the side that played the gambit actually sacrificed material in the game (for at least 5 consecutive half-moves before move 16). In particular, the list of gambit openings isn’t restricted to named gambits; it also includes for example the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez, the Budapest Defence, and several variations of the Two Knights Defence in the Italian Game. However, this approach excludes games where a side decides to gambit material when not playing a traditionally gambit-associated opening. Yes, those should be considered gambits. But they’re not here.↩︎

  6. Qualifying “gambiteers” are ordered by number of gambit games played before percentage score.↩︎

  7. Archbishop of Accuracy: this is for the player with the lowest average centipawn loss (CPL) over all games. Note that this calculation isn’t based on Lichess’s ACPL figures. It excludes moves played in the first 10 moves of a game and moves with a centipawn loss < 150 in decided positions. These are considered to be positions with an evaluation greater than or equal to +300 centipawns for one side. All evaluation data is sourced from Lichess server analysis. To be eligible, players must have played at least five games in the season. David Award: the player whose opponents achieved the highest percentage score across the season, excluding games against the player. One’s opponents must have played over 20 games (against others) to qualify. Suggested by Tranzoo. Egalitarian Award: intended for the team whose players performed most similarly to each other. First, I compute all players’ relative performance ratings – the difference between their actual performance rating (using FIDE’s method) and their initial rating. Then I group all players by team, and give the award to the team with the lowest standard deviation across its players’ relative ratings. Suggested by Silkthewanderer. Gambit Guru: most gambits played while scoring above 50%. MVP Award: minimum 5 games played. Rookie Award: minimum 4 games played. Saved by the Bell: Excludes moves made in positions with an evaluation of under +300 centipawns from the mover’s perspective. Ordering is determined first by # moves played with under 5 seconds remaining, then by least time remaining in such conditions, then by worst eval faced. Slingshot Specialist: the player with the highest total rating gap between their opponents and themselves when only considering wins against opponents rated at least 50 rating points higher.︎↩︎

  8. The season performance ratings presented in this report may differ slightly from ratings published on the Lichess4545 website, but both calculations are based on FIDE’s preferred method, and both exclude unplayed games such as forfeit wins/losses and scheduling draws.↩︎

  9. Season ACPL here excludes the first 10 moves of a game, all zero-CPL moves played in zero-evaluation positions, and moves played in positions where one side has an advantage of +300 centipawns or greater that aren’t mistakes or blunders.↩︎

  10. I award “comeback points” for each game that a player won after their opponent had an advantage of at least 300 centipawns, according to Lichess’ server analysis. The scoring is rather simple. A win after suffering an evaluation disadvantage of more than 6 pawns earns 1 point. A win after being down by 3-6 pawns earns 0.7 points. A draw after being down more than 6 pawns earns 0.5 points. A draw after being down 3-6 pawns earns 0.3 points. Then the points are added up.↩︎

  11. Excludes moves made in positions where the mover had an objective advantage of +3 or greater. Players are first ordered by number of moves made with 5 or fewer seconds remaining, then by least time they had left (across all qualifying moves), and finally by the worst objective evaluation they faced (again across all moves).↩︎

  12. For example, this report excludes from its analysis all games of less than 5 plies (half-moves), games that ended in a disconnection or by “cheat detected”, games that were aborted, and games that started from a custom position.↩︎

  13. However, players who were banned from the Lichess4545 leagues after finishing a season in the top three places are still shown with a podium place in that season’s report.↩︎