Privacy and browser storage

This page describes the current ChessNexa application. It is not a description of advertising or analytics services that have not been installed.

Google accounts

Google sign-in is optional. When you sign in, we store an account identifier, your name, email address, profile photo URL, and account creation date. We request basic profile and email access, not access to your Gmail messages. Your name is shown to your opponent; your email is not included in game responses. Account records are stored in the configured Redis database, or locally on the development server, until removed by the operator. Contact us to request deletion.

A secure HTTP-only session cookie keeps you signed in for up to 30 days. Signing out clears your login session. Google handles authentication under its Privacy Policy. Account-linked game seats require the same signed-in account to reconnect.

Practice games and preferences

Bot games and puzzle positions run in your browser. ChessNexa stores your selected bot, color, clock preference, completed-puzzle list, and theme in localStorage. These values help restore your preferences when you return. Clearing this site's browser data removes them.

Friend games

When you create or join a friend game, the server stores your chosen display name, game moves, remaining time, room expiry, invitation secret, and player-session credentials. The display name and position are shared with the other player. You do not need to provide a real name.

Player-session credentials are kept in your tab's sessionStorage so you can reconnect after a reload. The invite grants access to the second seat; treat it as private. Game rooms become inaccessible after 24 hours. When the hosted Redis store is used, room records are set to expire automatically. Other storage configurations and hosting logs may retain records separately.

Account game history

Completed games played while signed in can be saved to your private account history. Records include player names, your colour, moves, clock settings, result, and completion time. Both signed-in participants receive a copy of a friend game. Bot games are submitted by your browser as unrated practice games. History is stored separately from live rooms and remains after their 24-hour expiry, until removed by the operator. History uses the configured Redis database or local development files. Contact us to request deletion.

Player hub and study data

Clubs store their name, description, members, invitation code and announcements. Public clubs appear in the hub; private clubs require an invitation. Events store registration, pairings, game references, results and standings. Daily game invitations expire after one day; accepted daily rooms can remain available for up to one year and have a deadline for each move. These daily rooms are an exception to the standard 24-hour live-room expiry.

Your account can store private analysis studies, lesson completions, puzzle attempts, puzzle ratings, puzzle challenge scores, notifications and blocked accounts. Public player profile pages are disabled until you enable visibility in the hub. An enabled page shows your chess name, username, avatar choice, ratings and progress totals, never your email or private studies. Coaching profiles are optional, self described and unverified; requests store the participants, preferred time, topic and response. Coaching and memberships are free. These account and community records remain until removed by the operator.

You can download your account profile, private studies and game history from Settings in the player hub. Imported PGN/FEN stays in the analysis page unless you explicitly save a private study. Blocking prevents new account interactions and matchmaking; it does not remove historical games or shared links.

Hosting and service providers

The deployed application uses its hosting provider to deliver pages and process requests. Configured hosted friend games use Upstash Redis for room storage. Requests to these services can include technical information such as IP addresses and request logs. Provider retention is governed by their settings and policies.

Learn more in the Vercel privacy policy and Upstash privacy policy.

Profiles, friends and progress

Your username, display name, chosen chess-piece avatar, ratings, recent rating changes, friendships, friend requests, online status, matchmaking queue and pending challenges are stored to support account features. Friends can see your public player details and whether you were recently active. Online status is estimated from periodic requests while the site is open. Puzzle completions and daily streaks can be saved to your account after the server validates your solution.

Public replay links and analysis

Choosing Share replay creates a public copy of the game's names, moves, clock and result. Anyone with the link can view it without signing in. Your email, room tokens and invitation secrets are not included. Contact the operator to request removal of a shared replay. Players can also explicitly enable a revocable spectator link for a live game; it shares names, moves and the result, without permission to play. Either participant can disable it. Stockfish analysis runs locally in your browser and does not send your game to an external analysis service. Sound preferences are stored in your browser.

Reports and moderation

Signed-in players can submit private reports. We store the reporter's account identifier, the reported account, game or replay identifier, the selected reason, the description, relevant game evidence, and the moderation decision. Moderators authorised by the operator can review these records, suspend or restore accounts, reset public profiles, and hide or restore shared replays. Moderation notes and actions are logged. The affected player can see their suspension reason. Report records and logs remain until removed by the operator; contact us about access, deletion or appeals. Reports do not automatically establish misconduct or change ratings.

For shared replays, the server also keeps a private association with the account that created the link so moderators can address reported content. That association is not included in the public replay page.

Training and offline study

Training attempts, written plans, revision schedules, private opening repertoire branches/notes and preferences are saved to your account. Shared-study members can view chapters, branches and comments. Practice-partner listings require opt-in. Opening statistics use your saved games. Tablebase queries send the selected board position to Lichess. Optional offline downloads cache public learning pages and static assets, excluding private APIs and history.

Account deletion

Use Settings in the improvement centre to export or delete your account. Deletion removes private records and hides shared replays. Opponents? historical records and moderation evidence may remain. A minimal deleted-account identifier prevents old sessions from recreating your account. Contact the operator for additional removal requests.

Advertising and analytics

Learning pages may contain clearly labelled direct sponsor links when configured by the operator. The sponsor card loads from ChessNexa and does not itself load an external advertising script or tracking pixel. Visiting a sponsor's website sends a request to that website and is governed by its privacy policy. Unpaid learning recommendations link to our own guides and are labelled as learning content.

Production pages use Google Analytics 4 when enabled by the operator to understand visits, page usage, device/browser information and engagement. Google Analytics may use cookies and send usage data to Google. Analytics may receive page URLs and referring-page information. We do not add account emails, player names, game moves or room credentials as analytics event parameters. Google signals and advertising personalization signals are disabled in this integration. Google AdSense is not installed.

Learn more in Google's Privacy Policy or use the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. Browser tracking protection may also block analytics.

Your choices and questions

You can clear browser storage, avoid entering a personal name, and stop sharing an invite. For questions about stored room information or privacy, visit Contact. Do not publish your player token or database credentials.