Your privacy is very important to Chessgames.com. While we gather information about our users to help provide the best service possible, we adhere to strict policies to safeguard your privacy at all times. This page states, in plain language, our privacy policy, so that there may be no misunderstandings about what information we gather, and why we gather it.

Information gathered: When you register an account with chessgames.com, you will have access to a preferences page which allows you to provide various information, including including your email address. All information you submit on this page, with the exception of your "username" and your "bio," is completely confidential. We will never give or sell your email address to any third party. We will never reveal your address to other users.

We will occasionally email all registered members with newsletters that announce new features, games and puzzles, and special promotions. If you prefer not to receive our emails, either check the option that reads "Do not send me emails, newsletters, etc." on your preferences page or email chess@chessgames.com with your request.

Chessgames.com uses standard web logfiles, which automatically record all requests made of the chessgames.com servers. Such information includes I.P. addresses, the chessgames.com pages requested, the type of browser you use, etc. We study these data in aggregate in order to try to understand our customers' preferences better and to improve our site.

Your "Bio": Your preferences page has an area we call the "bio" where you may voluntarily provide information about yourself. The purpose of this feature is to introduce yourself to other members. You are not obligated to write anything in this area. Whatever information you volunteer in your "bio" will be visible to all other members of the site.

We caution against including your email address in your bio, because email-harvesting spiders (a.k.a. "spambots") may extract your email from this page for the purpose of sending you junk email.

Cookies: "Cookies" are small files of data that reside on your computer and allow us to recognize you. If your browser accepts cookies, you will receive a chessgames.com cookie the first time you visit our site. This cookie allows us to customize the site's behavior and appearance to fit your tastes. We do not use the cookie for any other purpose. You are able to erase your cookie at any time by visiting the logout page which will wipe out our chessgames cookie until you choose to sign-in again.

Children: Chessgames.com is proud to maintain a decorum suitable for children, and children of all ages are very much welcomed here. However, when a child under age 13 registers with chessgames.com, we suggest that a parent is present to prevent the child from inadvertently volunteering sensitive information.

Information Security: Chessgames.com is committed to handling your customer billing information with the highest possible standards of information security. All credit card information is transmitted through the industry standard SSL-encrypted secure channel. If you send us credit card information to register for premium membership, that information is stored only in the server's RAM memory, and not on the permanent storage device. Once the transaction is completed, that area of our server's RAM is intentionally wiped out. Therefore, it is impossible for a criminal to steal your credit card number from us, because we don't have it.

We do, however, retain the last 4 digits of your credit card number in the event that it may be required for proof of identification.

We will never automatically rebill you for services; we will however email you 30 days prior to the expiration of your account and encourage you to renew your subscription. If you choose to renew, you will have to enter your credit card information again.

Chessgames will never ask you for your password, your credit card, or any other sensitive information via email. If you receive an email apparently from us requesting sensitive information, it is a forgery. In such an event, we suggest you do not reply to the email, but instead forward it to chess@chessgames.com for investigation.

More Information: If you have any other questions about chessgames.com's privacy policy, feel free to write us at chess@chessgames.com and we will be happy to address whatever concerns you have.