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How does Chess.com help keep children safe?

Learn how Chess.com helps protect young members through parental consent, Safe Mode, reporting tools, and community moderation, and what to do if you have a safety concern.

Child safety on Chess.com

Millions of players of all ages use Chess.com and ChessKid every day, who come to learn, play, and improve at chess. Keeping young members safe is a responsibility we take seriously, and it's something we consider across our products, policies, and support processes.

If you believe a child is in immediate danger or you suspect criminal activity, contact your local law enforcement or emergency services first. See When to contact local authorities below for more information.

Our commitment to child safety

Chess.com's goal is to provide a fun, safe, and welcoming environment for everyone, including our youngest members. To help achieve that, we:

  • Require members to meet a minimum age to use Chess.com. If we become aware that a member is under the minimum age required to use the platform, we request parental consent before allowing access to social features.

  • Offer ChessKid, a platform designed specifically for younger players.

  • Provide tools that help members limit unwanted interactions, including Safe Mode and blocking.

  • Enforce Community Policies that prohibit harassment, abuse, exploitation, and other harmful behavior.

  • Review reports of policy violations and take action when appropriate.

In addition to the above, we review and expeditiously act on reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and related illegal activity, including by reporting them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ("NCMEC").

Safety tools and privacy controls

Chess.com offers several features that help members control who can interact with them:

  • Safe Mode - Safe Mode disables messages, chat, and comments on an account. Parents of children using Chess.com, or any member who prefers a quieter experience, can ask Support to enable or disable Safe Mode.

  • Blocking - You can block another member at any time. Once blocked, they won't be able to:

    • Send you messages

    • Challenge you to games

    • Send friend requests

    • Interact with your content

  • Turning off game chat - Members can disable in-game chat completely or limit it to friends only through their game or app settings.

Reporting safety concerns

If you experience or witness behavior that is sexually inappropriate, threatening, discriminatory, abusive, or otherwise violates our policies, including anything involving or directed toward a child, please report it. If the situation involves immediate danger or suspected criminal activity, you should also report it to your local authorities.

For steps on how to report a member on our site, please see this article: How do I report someone?

When to contact local authorities

If a child is in immediate danger or you suspect criminal activity, including enticement, grooming, sexual exploitation, or child sexual abuse material (CSAM), contact your local law enforcement or emergency services immediately. Reporting a concern to Chess.com is important, but it is not a substitute for reporting it to the appropriate authorities.

Depending on where you live, you may also be able to report concerns to organizations that specialize in protecting children online, such as INHOPE and its member hotlines.

Where to report child safety concerns

Below is a list of official child safety reporting organizations for each country, along with their contact information.

Americas

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Africa / Middle East

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