Privacy policy

Who we are

This policy covers The Chess Archive at chesszz.com and the Android app Chesszz - The Chess Archive. Both are run by Jonathan Manuel, an individual developer. The app shows the same pages as the website, so everything here applies to both.

Questions, or a request about your data: jonathan.jfm@gmail.com.

Without an account

• Your games, progress and settings stay on your device, in the browser's (or the app's) own storage. They are not sent to us.
• Imported games from Lichess, Chess.com or a PGN file stay on your device too. Your device asks Lichess or Chess.com for them directly.
• The engine runs on your device. Positions you analyse are not sent anywhere.
• A game with a friend goes through our server while you play, so each of you sees the other's moves. The room is forgotten when it is empty.

With an account

An account is optional. If you create one, we keep:

• Your email address, to sign you in and to send the links that confirm it or reset a password. We never show it to anybody, and never send it anything else.
• Your password, as a salted hash. We cannot read the password itself.
• Your username, and whether your page is public.
• Your games and progress — the games you play while signed in, your lessons, puzzles and streaks, your level and score, and the games you like — so they reach your other devices.
• Your Lichess id and username, only if you link a Lichess account. Never your Lichess password or token.
• Sign-in records: your active sessions, and failed sign-ins for rate limiting, where your internet address is stored only as a one-way hash.

Public page. If your profile is public, anyone can see your username, level, score, record and finished games. Never your email address and never an unfinished game. Turn it off in your account and the page is gone for everyone but you.

Counting visits

• Always, with nothing stored on your device: each page sends a short report — which section, what happened (for example "game finished"), the screen size, the site that linked here, and the country your connection comes from. No identifier, no address, nothing that tells your visits from anybody else's.
• Only if you answer "Allow" to the banner: a random visitor id kept on your device, so we can count returning visitors and see how long pages are read, and Google Analytics, which sets its own cookies. Say no, or change your answer later under Privacy choices at the bottom of the menu, and these are deleted.
• Games are counted — how often each famous game is opened, and its likes.

Who else is involved

We do not sell your data, share it for advertising, or show ads. It is handled by:

• Cloudflare, which hosts the site, the databases and the server, and sends our emails.
• Google Analytics, only if you allowed it — see Google's privacy policy.
• Lichess and Chess.com, only when you import from them, link Lichess, or play there through this site. Your device talks to them directly, under their own privacy policies; when you sign in with Lichess, our server also asks Lichess once which account is yours.

Everything travels over HTTPS.

How long it is kept

• Your account and everything on it: until you close it.
• Sessions: 30 days from the last use. Confirmation and reset links: a day.
• Visit records with a visitor id: 400 days.
• Records on your device: until you clear them, or uninstall the app.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself, in the app or on the website:

1. Open Account (the person icon at the top right) and sign in.
2. Open Account settings at the bottom of the page.
3. Under Close your account, type delete my account, enter your password if asked, and press Close my account.

What is deleted, at once and for good: your email address, password, username, public page, games, progress, level, score, likes, linked Lichess name and sessions.

What stays: a game a friend played against you stays in their history, without your name, and the anonymous counts above, which were never tied to you. Our host's automatic backups roll over within 30 days.

Cannot sign in? Email jonathan.jfm@gmail.com from the address on the account, and we will delete it within 30 days.

You can also download everything your account holds first: Download your data, in the same place.

The Android app

• One permission: the internet. No location, contacts, camera, microphone or files.
• No advertising id and no in-app purchases.
• Uninstalling the app deletes what it kept on the phone. Your account, if you have one, stays until you close it.

Children, and changes to this page

The site is for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has made an account, email us and we will delete it.

If this policy changes, this page changes, with a new date below.

Last changed 26 September 2026.