Legal FAQs

Chess.com is not “selling” your data in the sense that no one is paying us money in exchange for your personal information (such as name, email address, location, or stats), and that is not something we would do. Our Privacy Policy refers to the “sale” of personal data because some U.S. state laws define any sharing of data with advertising partners as a “sale” of data.

To clarify, this is what we do:

In the event we share this type of information with our digital advertising partners, they may use it to deepen their understanding of your interests, in which case they may use it to help target ads to you from us and others. Some state laws treat this as a “sale” of data.

We don’t give our advertising partners access to personal information like your name, physical address, or demographics.

Whether data sharing happens by default or with your consent depends on both your location and settings:

Please note that some cookies are strictly necessary for the site to work — such as keeping you logged in, processing payments, and preventing fraud. These cannot be turned off.

Subscribe to any paid plan. Premium members do not see third-party ads.

For the full list of data we collect, please see our Privacy Policy.

By way of example, for all members, the types of information we collect include: email, username, IP address, country, preferred language, usage data, which features you use, browser type, device info, pages visited, and chess statistics.

We also collect different types of data depending on how you use the platform. The following summaries include examples of the additional types of data we may collect based on a member’s type of account:

Paying members: payment information (processed by third-party providers, but we don’t store your full credit card number).

Competitive event participants: we may ask for additional identity verification data, which can include an ID or a photograph for proctoring purposes.

You can request a copy of the information we have on file for your account through the My Data page.

If you are a competitive event participant, for your security and the security of the platform, we do not provide you with a copy of any IDs or photographs collected for proctoring; however, we are able to let you know if we have such data about you in our records.

When you close your account, your personal information is kept on file so you can reactivate later. It is not automatically deleted.

If you want your data permanently removed, you will have to submit a deletion request through the My Data page.

Submit a deletion request through the My Data page.

Here is what happens next:

If your account was closed for a Terms of Service violation (like a Fair Play ban), we may retain certain minimum necessary information, as permitted by law, to enforce our policies and protect the community.

One thing to be aware of: even after deletion, your old profile may still appear in Google or Bing search results for a while since search engines cache pages independently. You can request removal from Google and Bing directly.

No. If you went through the process of deleting your account and the ten day waiting period has passed then your old account cannot be restored.

If you closed your account (but didn’t request data deletion), then you can reactivate by logging back in. You’ll need to use the original email address you signed up with.

We can’t guarantee that all account information, learning progress, or personalization features will be fully restored after reactivation, though in most cases your account should look just as you left it.

In some jurisdictions, laws may characterize the photo IDs and photographs we collect for the limited purposes of identity verification and proctoring as biometric data. We only collect this type of data for members playing in competitive events. Never from casual play.

Chess.com does not collect fingerprints (separate from fingerprints on ID cards, if applicable), facial geometry or faceprints, or any other biometric identifiers.

When you compete in online tournaments where prizes or titles are at stake, we may collect photo IDs and photographs for identity verification and proctoring. Think of it as the online equivalent of showing your ID at an over-the-board tournament.

We do not store this information beyond what is needed. You can also request deletion of any of this data by contacting Support.

Full details are covered in our Privacy Policy.

We do not sell or provide your game data in bulk to third-party AI companies, nor do we give anyone permission to scrape our platform to obtain data used in the training of AI models. We do use both data and AI tools to operate and improve the site, including things like cheat detection and personalized recommendations.

Our User Agreement includes an AI Restrictions section that specifically prohibits third parties from using automated tools to access, scrape, data mine, or copy content from Chess.com — including for developing AI models, chess engines, or competing products. Any automated access for AI purposes requires our explicit written permission.

We do allow search engines and AI answer engines to index publicly available pages (the same way Google or Bing index any website), but not for model training or dataset creation.

Chess.com's servers are in the United States. Your data may also be processed in other countries where we engage service providers. For users in the EU and UK, we comply with GDPR requirements for international data transfers using appropriate legal safeguards.

You may have certain data privacy rights depending on the jurisdiction or state in which you are located. These may include, without limitation, the right to:

For more information regarding data protection questions, please consult our Privacy Policy or reach out to dpo@chess.com.

Yes. When we make important updates to our legal agreements we are then required to ensure you are aware of these material changes before you continue using the site.

We also think this is the right thing to do. When something changes in our terms, you should know about it — not find out later. Asking for your acknowledgment is how we make sure that happens.

We published a full Summary of Changes page that covers the key changes. If you want to take a deeper dive into these updates, we encourage you to review the full text of each policy.

For material changes, we’ll notify you by sending an email or in-app notification. Smaller changes are posted on the site with a new effective date.

Arbitration is a way to resolve disputes outside of a traditional court. A neutral third party reviews the case and makes a binding decision. It is typically faster and less costly than litigation.

Arbitration has been part of Chess.com's User Agreement for some time. This update makes the process clearer and switches the arbitration provider to JAMS, one of the most respected and experienced arbitration services in the United States.

Yes, you can opt out within 30 days of agreeing to our Terms. There is no penalty for opting out, nor does this change your Chess.com account in any way.

To do so, send a written opt-out notice within 30 days of first agreeing to the Terms. The notice must include your name, address, and signature.

Send it by email or mail to:

Yes. It’s how we prevent cheating and other fair play violations. Our team uses both automated and human reviewers to identify and review suspicious play. It’s how we close over a million accounts a year for violating our Fair Play policy.

We can’t tell you everything we do to catch cheaters, but our team analyzes your gameplay, which includes over 100 different factors to detect cheating.

In competitive (proctored) events, monitoring is more intensive and may include device processes, open tabs, and screen or camera feeds.

Your account may be closed and publicly labeled as having been closed for Fair Play violations. Opponents affected by the cheating may receive rating refunds.

In competitive events, you may also be disqualified, forfeit prizes, and be barred from future events.

Depending on your circumstance, Chess.com may offer a second-chance account, subject to conditions including a written acknowledgment of the violations. But Chess.com has no obligation to offer this, and further violations are likely to result in a permanent ban.

If you have been closed for cheating you will have received an email that outlines what steps you must take to appeal our determination.

Our detection methods are rigorous, and because some closures are based on proprietary statistical methods, on very rare occasions we make a mistake. If you think that happened to you, reach out — our team will review and take action accordingly. We close over a million accounts a year for Fair Play violations, and we take accuracy seriously in each one.

Our terms say we can suspend or terminate accounts “with or without cause.” That language sounds broad, and we understand why it might concern you.

In practice, accounts are closed for specific reasons: Fair Play violations (cheating), Community Policy violations (abuse, harassment), other Terms of Service breaches, fraud, legal requirements, or extended inactivity. We don’t close accounts arbitrarily.

The 'with or without cause' language gives us flexibility to act quickly in urgent situations — such as abuse, fraud, or account security issues — where waiting for a formal process could cause more harm.

If your account is closed and you believe it was done in error, contact Support to request a review.

Yes, unless prohibited by law, all paid subscriptions auto-renew at the end of each billing cycle (monthly or annually) at the then-current rate, unless you cancel before the renewal date.

The way you cancel will depend on how you subscribed to Chess.com:

We don’t offer partial refunds for unused time, except under the 30-day money-back guarantee for new members.

In most cases, no. If your account is closed for a Terms of Service violation (including cheating), you are not entitled to a refund for the remaining subscription period.

Ads allow us to keep the game free for millions of members, build innovative new products, and create major chess events. We know they’re annoying, especially on mobile. We try our best to make them relevant and as minimally invasive as possible.

To remove ads, sign up to any of our Premium plans. We also offer a No Ads Plan where you can remove all ads for just $1/month (or the equivalent in your local currency).

Yes. Your profile and game history are publicly visible.

This is by design. Chess has a long tradition of open game records — over-the-board tournament results are published by FIDE and national federations, and online chess continues that tradition. Your User Game Activity (game results, moves, timestamps, ratings) is part of the public chess record and is accessible to anyone.

Chess.com is not designed for children under 13.

For younger users, we recommend ChessKid.com, which is specifically built for children with additional safety features.

If you’d like your child who is under 13 years of age to use Chess.com instead, please complete the Parental Consent Form. This allows your child to access the platform with your knowledge and authorization.

If you believe a child under 13 has created an account without parental consent, contact us at chess.com/support and we’ll handle it promptly.

Chess.com is a global platform with 200+ million registered members in virtually every country, and each jurisdiction has its own rules which require specific documentation.

For example:

We organize our legal terms into separate documents (User Agreement, Privacy Policy, Fair Play Policy, Subscriber Agreement, and others) because each one covers a distinct topic. We believe that this makes it easier to navigate than a single, massive document.

We also try to help you understand what’s in these terms. We publish a Summary of Changes when terms are updated, maintain this FAQ you’re currently reading, and our Support team is available to answer specific questions you may have.