ChessHost ("we", "us", "our") runs chess tournament software at chesshost.app. One event a month of up to 12 players is free. Bigger or more frequent events need a ChessHost Pro subscription, billed by Paddle. This policy explains what information we handle, how we use cookies, advertising, and payments, and the choices you have. We keep data collection to the minimum needed to run the service.
1. Who this policy covers
ChessHost has two kinds of visitors. Organizers create an account to set up and run tournaments. Players and viewers use the public parts of the site, such as joining an event by name or watching a live TV display, without any account.
2. Information we collect
Account information (organizers only)
When you create an organizer account we store the email address you sign up with and your account settings. This is used to sign you in, save your tournaments, and contact you about the service.
Tournament content
When an event is run, ChessHost stores the information the organizer enters, such as player display names, results, and pairings. Players do not create accounts and are not asked for an email address or any contact details. A display name is all that is needed to join.
Automatically collected information
Like most websites, we automatically receive standard technical information such as your browser type, device type, and general usage, through analytics and advertising cookies described below.
3. How we use information
- To provide and operate the tournament service.
- To save organizer accounts, settings, and tournament data.
- To understand how the site is used and improve it.
- To show advertising that helps keep ChessHost free.
- To send organizers service related messages.
4. Cookies and advertising
ChessHost uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are needed to keep you signed in, and some support analytics and advertising.
Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to ChessHost and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to this site and other sites on the internet.
You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings at google.com/settings/ads. You can also opt out of a third party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting aboutads.info. Many browsers also let you block or delete cookies in their settings.
Useful links:
5. Analytics
We use Google Analytics to understand general, aggregated usage of the site, such as which pages are visited and on what kind of device. This helps us improve ChessHost. Analytics data is not used to personally identify individual visitors.
6. Payment processing
ChessHost Pro subscriptions are billed by Paddle (paddle.com), our payment provider and merchant of record. When you subscribe, you provide payment details directly to Paddle. ChessHost does not see or store your card number or bank details. Paddle handles all payment data in accordance with their own privacy policy and PCI-DSS requirements. You can read Paddle's privacy policy at paddle.com/legal/privacy. We receive confirmation of your subscription, its status and renewal date, along with your email address for order records. Cancelling and updating your card are handled on Paddle's own hosted customer portal, which we link to from your Billing page.
7. ChessHost AI, the event assistant
Organizers on ChessHost Pro can open ChessHost AI, an assistant that answers questions about their event and about the rules of chess. To answer a question about your event, we send the question and a summary of that event to OpenRouter (openrouter.ai), which passes it to the AI model that writes the answer. You can read OpenRouter's privacy policy at openrouter.ai/privacy.
The assistant is opened from a single event and is told about that one event only, so it never sees another of your events in the same conversation. The event summary contains player display names, their scores and their results, because those are what the question is usually about. It does not contain any player's email address, any record of who has paid an entry fee, your saved club member list, or your event's join code. Every request tells OpenRouter to use only providers that do not keep prompts for training.
We do not store the text of your questions. We keep only a count of how many you have asked, so we can apply a fair daily limit. Your conversation is kept in your own browser, on the device you used, so that reopening an event brings back what you asked about it. Clearing your browser data, or the Start again button in the assistant, removes it.
The assistant gives guidance, not decisions. It cannot change anything in your event, and on any dispute between players the ruling is always yours as the organizer.
8. Children's privacy
ChessHost is used by schools and clubs, where some participants may be children. ChessHost is designed so that we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. Players join an event by typing only a display name. We do not ask players for an email address, contact details, or any account.
Organizer accounts are intended for adults, such as teachers, coaches, and event hosts. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us through our Contact page and we will remove it.
9. How data is stored
Account and tournament data is stored using Supabase, a hosted database and authentication provider, on our behalf. We take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold, but no online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
10. Data retention and your choices
Organizers can delete their tournaments from within the app at any time. In addition, finished events are removed automatically 12 months after they finish, which keeps each account fast and limits how much data we hold. Events you are still running are never removed automatically, whatever their age. Each finished event shows its removal date on the organizer dashboard for the 30 days before it is removed, so certificates and results can be downloaded first. Removal is permanent and we cannot restore a removed event.
If you would like your account and associated data removed sooner, contact us and we will action your request. You can also control cookies through your browser and advertising preferences through the links in section 4.
One narrow exception survives account deletion. ChessHost used to give every new account one free tournament credit, offered once per person rather than once per account. To enforce that without keeping your details, we stored a one way cryptographic hash of your email address, and nothing else, in a separate record. The hash cannot be turned back into your address, it is never used to contact you, it is not shared, and it carries no other information about you.
That offer ended in September 2026 and no new hashes are created, so nothing about a new account is recorded this way. The existing records are retained as the register of who claimed the offer while it ran. If you would like yours erased, email admin@chesshost.app and we will remove it.
11. Third party links
Our site and ads may link to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies.
12. No responsibility and limitation of liability
The service is provided "as is" and "as available", with no warranties of any kind. While we take reasonable steps to protect data, to the fullest extent permitted by law the operator of ChessHost accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever for any loss, corruption, unauthorized access to, or disclosure of data, for any interruption to the service, or for any direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage arising from your use of the site. You use the service entirely at your own risk and are responsible for keeping your own backups.
We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any third party, including advertisers and the sites they link to. Nothing in this policy is intended to exclude any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of ChessHost after changes means you accept the updated policy.
14. Contact
Questions about this policy or your data? Reach us at admin@chesshost.app or through our Contact page.