Privacy Policy

Effective November 1, 2026

This policy explains what information chess.ooo ("we", "us") collects when you use the chess.ooo website and app, how we use it, who else handles it, and the choices you have. If you have a question, write to [email protected].

The short version

• We collect what we need to run your account and your chess: your email address, your profile, and your games, repertoires and training.
• We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not sell ads based on it.
• Your email address is never shown to other members.
• A few service providers help us run chess.ooo (hosting, email, pictures, error tracking). They are listed below, with what each one receives.
• You can delete your account and its data at any time, yourself in Settings or by asking us.

Information you give us

• Your account. Your email address, which you use to sign in with an emailed link or code.
• Passkeys. If you add a passkey (Face ID, a fingerprint or your device's screen lock), we store its public key and the name you see in Settings. Your fingerprint, face and PIN never leave your device.
• Your profile. Your username, and if you choose to add them: a public name, a location (country, and optionally a region and city), a profile picture, and how you rate your own level. We also keep the time zone your browser reports, so a "day" for your training streak is your day.
• Your chess. Games you import, paste or play here (including games against the computer and against friends), with their analysis, notes and tags; your repertoires and their notes; your training and review history; puzzle attempts; ratings; achievements; and your settings.
• Linked chess accounts. If you link a chess.com or Lichess username, we store it and fetch that account's public games for you, now and from time to time afterwards, until you unlink it.
• Friends. Your friends, friend requests, blocks and mutes; challenges and any message you add to one; invitations you send (the address you invite and any note you write); and reports you make about another member's picture.
• Messages to us. Feedback you send from inside the app goes to us by email, with the page you were on, your username and your email address, so we can reply. It is not stored in our database. If you ask for an invitation on the sign-in page, we keep the address and the optional note you leave.

Information collected automatically

• Sign-in sessions. Each time you sign in, we record the IP address and the browser description (user agent) of that session, so the session works and can be checked for misuse.
• Abuse protection. We use IP addresses and account ids to limit how often some actions can be repeated (sign-in emails, invite requests, searches, feedback, moves in the daily puzzle) and how often one address can add to the daily puzzle's counts. These counts are kept in memory for minutes to a day; they are not stored in our database.
• Usage counts. We count some use per account, such as server analysis time, so plan allowances can work.
• Error reports and logs. When something breaks, an error report is sent to our error tracking service (see below).
• Notifications. If you turn on notifications, we store the address your browser gives us for delivering them.

How we use information

• To run chess.ooo: sign you in, keep your games, repertoires and training, analyze games, show your profile to other members, and run games with friends.
• To send the emails and notifications described below.
• To keep the service secure and protect it from abuse, spam and automated misuse.
• To find and fix problems, and to understand how the service is used so we can improve it.
• To answer your messages, and to meet legal obligations.

We do not sell or rent personal information. We do not sell advertising, and we do not use your information to target ads.

What other people can see

• Other members who are signed in can see your username, your public name and location if you added them, your profile picture, the month you joined, and how many friends you have in common with them. They can find you by searching for your username, never by your email address.
• Friends can challenge you to games, and see the moves and results of the games you play together.
• Shared game links. When you share a game, anyone with the link can see it without signing in: the players' names and ratings as recorded in the game, the date, event and time control, the moves and clock times, the opening, and the analysis and accuracy. They can also download it as a PGN file. A shared link does not show your account, notes or tags. You can stop sharing a game at any time, which turns the link off.
• People you invite receive an email from us saying that you (by your username) invited them, with any note you wrote.

Service providers

Like most websites, we rely on a few companies to run chess.ooo. They process information only to provide their service to us, and only what that service needs:

• Hosting and backups, where your account and chess data are stored.
• A network that delivers the site and protects it from attacks. Every visit passes through it, so it handles your IP address and the pages you request.
• Email delivery, which receives each recipient's address and the email's content.
• Image storage for profile pictures.
• Error reporting and logs. Before anything is sent, email addresses, passwords, tokens, cookies and similar values are removed, and names and IP addresses are not included. A report can include your account id (a random identifier), the page address, your browser type and language, and details of the error.
• Your browser's push service delivers notifications if you turn them on. The message is encrypted for your browser.

Chess data services

• Chess analysis. To analyze games and show opening statistics, our server sends chess positions to public chess analysis services. Only positions (and the rating and speed filters for opening statistics) are sent, never your name, email or account.
• Lichess. If you link a Lichess username, we fetch that account's public games from Lichess.
• Chess.com. If you link a chess.com username, we fetch that account's public games through chess.com's public API.

Cookies and storage on your device

• Sign-in cookie. A cookie keeps you signed in. It lasts 90 days and is renewed when you use the site. Signing in with a passkey also uses short-lived cookies to complete the sign-in. These cookies are needed for the service to work.
• Preferences. A cookie remembers your last setup for playing the computer, and your browser's local storage keeps things like your board view, clock setup, sound and vibration choices, tips you have dismissed, unsaved work such as a pasted game, and the day's daily puzzle result, signed in or not. This stays on your device.
• Offline use. The app stores some of its own files on your device so it loads quickly and can show a page when you are offline.

We do not use advertising cookies. The network that delivers the site may measure page loads and performance without cookies.

Analytics

We may use an analytics service, such as Google Analytics, to understand how people use chess.ooo, for example which pages are visited and how often. An analytics service may set its own cookies and receive information such as your IP address, browser and the pages you view. If we add one, we will update this policy, and where the law requires it we will ask for your consent first. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, use a content blocker, or, for Google Analytics, install Google's opt-out browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Emails and notifications

We send email only for things related to your account and your games:

• Sign-in links and codes you ask for.
• Invitations, including invitations another member sends to your address.
• Friend requests, accepted requests and invitations, and "your move" in a game with a friend. You can turn each of these off in Settings.

Every invitation email has a link to stop invitations to that address. Notifications on your device are off until you turn them on, and you can turn them off in Settings or in your browser.

How long we keep information

• Account, profile and chess data: for as long as you have an account.
• Sign-in links and codes: they stop working after 15 minutes.
• Sign-in sessions: 90 days from your last visit, or until you sign out.
• Invite requests: until we have handled them, and on request we delete them.
• Feedback: in our email inbox, until we no longer need it or you ask us to delete it.
• Database backups: each nightly backup is deleted after 30 days.
• Error reports and logs: for a limited time, then deleted automatically.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account in Settings, on the Account tab: choose Delete account and type your username to confirm. It is deleted at once and you are signed out. Or email [email protected]from the address you sign in with (or tell us which account it is, and we will confirm it is yours), and we will delete it within 30 days.

Deleting your account removes your profile and picture, your games, repertoires, training and puzzle history, ratings, friendships, challenges, invitations you sent, sessions, passkeys, linked chess accounts and notification settings. It also removes your address from our invitation list, any invite request you made, any invitations other members sent to it, and any "don't email me again" record for it. Copies in our backups disappear as those backups are deleted, within 30 days. Information that belongs to another member's account, such as a game they imported that lists your chess.com username, stays with their account.

Your choices

• Change your username, public name, location and picture, and choose which emails and notifications you get, in Settings.
• Stop sharing any game you shared, and unlink chess.com or Lichess accounts.
• Export your repertoires as PGN.
• Delete your account in Settings.
• Ask us for a copy of your data, a correction, or deletion at [email protected].

Your rights in the EU, EEA and UK

If you are in the European Union, the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, data protection law (the GDPR and UK GDPR) gives you these rights:

• to get a copy of your personal data, and to have it corrected;
• to have it deleted;
• to restrict or object to how we use it;
• to receive the data you gave us in a portable format;
• to withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent;
• to complain to your local data protection authority.

We use your information because we need it to provide the service you signed up for (contract), for our legitimate interests in keeping the service secure, fixing problems and improving it, with your consent for optional things such as notifications, and when the law requires it. chess.ooo is the controller of your personal data. To use any of these rights, email [email protected].

Your rights in California

If you live in California, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA) gives you these rights:

• to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose, and to get a copy;
• to have it deleted, and to have inaccurate information corrected;
• to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising;
• to limit the use of sensitive personal information. We use it only to provide the service (for example, your sign-in details);
• not to be treated differently for using these rights.

In the past 12 months we have collected these categories, from you and from your use of the service, for the purposes described above: identifiers (email address, username, IP address, account id), account sign-in details, profile information (public name, location, picture), internet activity (sessions, errors, use of features), and the chess content you create or import. We disclose them only to the service providers listed above. To make a request, email [email protected]. We will verify the request by confirming it comes from your account email address. You can also use an authorized agent, whom we may ask to show your permission.

International transfers

Your information may be stored and processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers work. Where the law requires it, these transfers are covered by safeguards such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

Security

We protect your information with encrypted connections (HTTPS), sign-in links and codes that expire quickly, codes stored only in hashed form, database rules that keep each member's data to themselves, and access to our systems limited to the people who run chess.ooo. No service can promise perfect security, so please tell us at [email protected] if you find a problem.

Children

chess.ooo is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you are under 18, you need a parent's or guardian's permission to use chess.ooo. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email [email protected] and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as chess.ooo changes. We will post the new version here with a new effective date, and for important changes we will tell members in the app or by email before they take effect.

Contact

Questions, requests and complaints about privacy: [email protected]. See also our Terms of Service.