chessAI
chessAI Website Privacy Policy
Last updated 24 October 2026. This policy covers the website chessai.site. The chessAI apps for iPhone, iPad and Android have their own policy: the same, except for the visit recordings below, which the apps don't make.
- We don't show ads, sell your information, or track you across other apps and websites.
- We keep your games and your chats with the coach so you can come back to them.
- On the website, we record how the page is used, like clicks, taps and scrolling, so we can make chessAI easier to use. Your questions to the coach are included, with email addresses and phone numbers removed; everything else you type is hidden, and no other company gets these recordings.
- The AI coach: your moves, the position and your questions go to the AI company behind the free AI (such as Anthropic), or to the company of your own AI key if you add one. Never your name or email. The iPhone and iPad app asks you before turning it on.
- You can delete everything at any time, right in the app.
Who we are
chessAI is made by Anupam Khosla, an independent developer ("we", "us"). For anything about your privacy, write to [email protected].
What we collect
- Your games and coach chats: the moves you play, the coach's notes, and the questions you ask the coach.
- Your account, if you create one: your email address and password. We never store the password itself, only a scrambled version that can't be turned back into it. You don't need an account: the app keeps your games under an anonymous account for your device, with no name or email. If you sign up later, your games come with you.
- Your AI key, if you add one: see "The AI coach" below.
- Coach replies you report: if you tap "Report" under a reply, we keep that reply with your account so we can review it.
- Basic technical information: like any online service, our servers see your IP address and when you use chessAI. We use it to keep chessAI running, stop abuse and count free AI answers.
- Usage data: how you use chessAI and how well it runs on your device, how fast your internet connection is, your type of device, your approximate country, the link that brought you here and which of our pages the visit started on. It is kept under a random number on your device, not linked to your name, email or account, and used only to understand and improve chessAI.
- On your device: your settings and your sign-in.
We don't collect your location, contacts, photos or advertising ID.
Visit recordings on the website
On chessai.site (not in the apps), we record how the page is used: mouse movements, clicks, taps, scrolling, the moves you play and what the page shows. We watch these recordings to find what is confusing or broken. Your questions to the coach are included, as they are when the coach answers them, with email addresses and phone numbers removed. Everything else you type, such as your email, password or AI key, is hidden before anything is sent.
- We keep them ourselves: no other company gets them, and they are never used for advertising.
- They are never tied to your name, email or account. Outside the EU, the UK and Switzerland they are tied to the random number on your device; there, each page view stays on its own.
- Outside the EU, the UK and Switzerland, recordings made from the same internet connection are marked as such, with a scrambled code for its IP address, never the address itself.
- We keep the most recent 10,000 recordings; older ones are deleted as new ones come in.
- They set no cookies.
How we use it
- To run chessAI: save your games, show the coach's notes and keep you signed in.
- To get answers from the AI coach (see below).
- To keep chessAI safe and fair: prevent abuse, review reported coach replies, fix problems and limit free AI use.
- To understand how people find and use chessAI, and improve it (the usage data above).
We never use your information to target ads or share it with advertisers, and we never sell or rent it. If you are in the EU or UK: we use your information to provide the service you asked for, and for our legitimate interest in keeping chessAI secure and improving it.
The AI coach
The coach's notes and answers are written by an AI and can sometimes be wrong.
- The free AI: the coach's answers come from an AI company we pay for, such as Anthropic. Your moves, the position and your questions are sent to it so it can write the answer. We don't send your name or email. The iPhone and iPad app asks before anything is sent: until you turn the AI coach on, the coach gives short basic notes only, and you can turn it off again in Settings → Coach. You can also add your own AI key (below); then your own key is used instead.
- Your own AI: you can instead add a key from an AI company you choose (for example OpenRouter or Google Gemini). The same information then goes to that company under your own account with them, and their privacy policy and terms apply, including their minimum age. We keep your key encrypted on our servers, use it only to get your coach's answers, and never show it again in full. It is deleted as soon as you remove it or delete your account. If you sign in with OpenRouter instead of pasting a key, OpenRouter gives the app a key for your account, kept the same way. Please use a key with a spending limit.
The coach only talks about chess. Please don't share personal information in your questions: email addresses and phone numbers you type are removed before your question is kept or sent to any AI.
Who we share it with
- AI companies, only as described above.
- Service providers that run chessAI for us: Google Cloud (our servers) and Cloudflare (our network, the website, and checking that visitors are people, not bots, which uses your IP address and basic information about your device).
- Public chess databases: chessAI looks up board positions and famous games in them. Only the position or the game is sent, never your name, email or account; like any website, they see your IP address.
- Speech to text, if you speak a question: your phone's or browser's own speech recognition (from Apple or Google, for example) turns it into text, and we receive only the text.
- Authorities, if the law requires it.
Every company that works for us and receives your information (the AI company behind the free AI, Google Cloud and Cloudflare) may use it only to provide its service to us, and must give it the same protection as this policy, or better.
Where your information is stored
Our servers are in the United States. If you use chessAI from another country, your information is transferred there and protected as this policy describes.
How we keep it safe
- Everything sent between chessAI and our servers is encrypted.
- Passwords and AI keys are never stored in readable form.
- On the website we use one cookie of our own, only to keep you signed in. No analytics or advertising cookies.
If you add your own AI key, we advise a separate key made just for chessAI, with a spending limit.
How long we keep it
- Games and coach chats: while your account exists (your 1,000 most recent games; 50 before you sign up).
- Anonymous device accounts: deleted 30 days after your last game.
- Games played with no account at all: deleted 7 days after the last move.
- Account details and AI keys: until you remove them or delete your account.
- Free AI answer counts: 2 days, under a scrambled code for your IP address, never the address itself.
- Usage data: 2 years. After that we keep only daily totals that can't be linked to anyone (for example "40 visitors from India on 3 May").
- Reported coach replies: until we have reviewed them, and at most one year; deleting your account deletes them too.
- Server logs: up to 30 days.
- Visit recordings: the most recent 10,000; older ones are deleted as new ones come in.
When you delete your account, all of it is deleted right away.
Your choices and rights
- Turn the AI coach on or off in the iPhone and iPad app: Settings → Coach.
- Use your own AI key instead of the free AI: Settings → Coach.
- Add, switch or remove AI keys: Settings → Coach.
- Delete your account and everything in it: Account → Delete account in the app, or see how to delete your account.
- Ask for a copy of your information, or to correct it: email us and we'll reply within 30 days.
Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK, India or California), you may also have the right to object to or limit how we use your information and to withdraw your consent at any time. You can also complain to your local data protection authority (in India, the Data Protection Board).
Children
chessAI is meant for people aged 13 and over. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you think a child under 13 has used chessAI, contact us and we'll delete their information. If you're under 18, please use chessAI with a parent or guardian's permission.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update this page and the date at the top.