2 weeks of E-board caused my 10-year account banned

I played 17000 games since 2016 on lichess. Bought a chessnut air 2 weeks ago, played about 50 games on the official chessnut app which connects to lichess.

Account got banned yesterday and appeal failed because "None of your games used the official API, which clearly violates our fair play rules."

This is kind of insulting considering all games from 2016 until 2025 minus 2 weeks were on lichess official app or web browser. Playing on the e-board is a self-imposed malus, it makes you play slow and it's not cheating.

They say they let me make another account but obviously if I want to use my 500$ board they will ban me again. Then they give me their API policy like I'm going to lobby chessnut for a new software or something.

Finally, even if I wanted to stop playing with the board they won't de-ban my account. Why the witch burning? This "fair play" rule doesn't make sense I can't believe this...

If you are not using the Board API, you are breaking https://lichess.org/page/fair-play as programmatic moves are not allowed otherwise.

To someone like me who isn’t tech savvy can you explain what using the board API means? I am getting a new Chessnut e-board and plan to play through iOS app. I don’t want to get banned for not understanding what API is.

Many people successfully follow the FairPlay policy here on Chessnut boards, right? How did OP go wrong so I can avoid the same mistake?

@baberle said in #3:

To someone like me who isn’t tech savvy can you explain what using the board API means? I am getting a new Chessnut e-board and plan to play through iOS app. I don’t want to get banned for not understanding what API is.

Using the board API means the board uses the API that Lichess created for this purpose. (While respecting the rules imposed for its use)
If the board or software doesn't use the Lichess API (for example, by pretending to be a user making moves on the site), there could be problems.

I can't say for sure, but it's not the first time chessnut has been mentioned on the forum.

@Denisator said in #1:

They say they let me make another account but obviously if I want to use my 500$ board they will ban me again. Then they give me their API policy like I'm going to lobby chessnut for a new software or something.

you paid 500$ to chessnut, lobbying them to create software that does not violate the lichess tos absolutely makes sense. this is the responsibility of the company you gave money to, not of the charity creating open source software. e.g. if people who had problems with the chessnut software gave them bad reviews, they would probably fix their stuff rather quickly.

Upon further review the answer is simple. People should play through the Chessconnect app or extension and there will be no problem. Don’t use the Chessnut app, period.

@bufferunderrun said in #2:

If you are not using the Board API, you are breaking https://lichess.org/page/fair-play as programmatic moves are not allowed otherwise.

I personally find nonsense to punish an user, who is using a legally sold tool because that platform (the legally sold tool) is not compliant with your rules.

How the players could know about the faulty behaviour of the board?
I mean, if you Lichess can verify that the user is telling the truth and the product suffer of such problems (not using your API) I think is not right to punish the user, after all he have no control nor knowledge on what the board does, he simply buy from a legitimate market what seems a legitimate product (so I would assume OP does his due diligence choosing the product).

IMHO if things are as said in this thread both of you (OP and Lichess) should sue who produces such product, but shouldn't penalize the unknowing end user.

Ps:
consider provide a list of certified platforms to play safely here (like app, legacy app and site).
Not everyone understands technical aspects of using a third party product.

@baberle said in #7:

Upon further review the answer is simple. People should play through the Chessconnect app or extension and there will be no problem. Don’t use the Chessnut app, period.

All you say is right ... you could add that chessnut is 100% responsible for the situation.

Unfortunately:
1/ Users like @Denisator find out when it's too late
2/ A lot of negative opinions can be expressed against lichess (based on a wrong understanding of the situation)

I don't think Lichess are going to thank chessnut if hundreds of these boards are sold during christmas

This TOS should be read in conjunction with our GDPR compliant privacy policy, and with our Fair Play and Community Guidelines. These are incorporated into these Terms by reference, and make up part of the legally binding agreement we're both entering into.

https://lichess.org/terms-of-service
And https://lichess.org/page/fair-play listed there pretty clearly states:

The only legal ways to play moves on Lichess are with the official Lichess APIs for Boards and Bots, or by interacting directly with the official Lichess graphical user interface (GUI).

As far as I am aware, Lichess has no affiliation with any of those companies, nor does it sell any boards to people. Lichess provides an API that anyone can use. Lichess also has rules that you need to comply with if you want to play here. You are responsible for your own account, whatever the devices, extensions and so on you are using.