diff --git a/lichess.c b/lichess.c
index 8519bbc..dd023ec 100644
--- a/lichess.c
+++ b/lichess.c
@@ -12,15 +12,19 @@ json_object* query_lichess(char* username)
 	 */
 	char* api_base = "https://lichess.org/api/user/";
 	char user_url[128];
+	int retries = 5;
 	strcpy(user_url,api_base);
 	strcat(user_url,username);
 	printf("querying %s\n",user_url);
 	char* http_response = request(user_url);
-	if(http_response == NULL)
+	while(http_response == NULL)
 	{
 		printf("didn't receive HTTP response, we might be rate-limited. Waiting 60s");
 		sleep(60);
-		return NULL;
+		http_response = request(user_url);
+		retries--;
+		if(retries == 0)
+			return NULL;
 	}
 	json_object *lichessUser = json_tokener_parse(http_response);
 	json_object *profile = json_object_object_get(lichessUser,"profile");