Ancient Chess ("we," "us," "the Site") respects your privacy. This page explains what information we collect when you use ancient-chess.online, how we use it, and — most importantly — who we do and don't share it with.
We collect what we need to run the Site: your account details, whatever you choose to post or play, and a small amount of technical data. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for their own use. The only places your data goes outside the Site are the handful of service providers described below, and only so far as needed to actually operate the Site.
Account information. If you sign up with email and password, we store your email address and a securely hashed version of your password (we never store your password itself). If you sign in with Google or Facebook instead, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture from that provider to create and log you into your account.
Profile information. Anything you choose to add to your profile — a display name or username, a bio, and a profile photo or an emoji avatar. Profile photos are stored with our file-storage provider (Cloudflare R2) rather than in our database, and are served from a public web address. That address is not listed or linked anywhere outside the Site, but it is not secret: anyone who has the link can open the image without signing in. Please don't upload a photo you would not be comfortable being seen. If you remove or replace your photo, we delete the stored file.
Content you create. Chess games and moves, your chess rating, forum threads and replies, news articles and comments, lobby and private in-game chat messages, direct messages you send to friends, your conversations with the historical figures, and draw offers or challenges you send. Some of this (chat messages, in particular) is automatically deleted after a short time — see "How long we keep data" below.
Technical information. When you first visit the Site, we record a one-way, irreversible cryptographic hash of your IP address purely to count new visitors for our own internal statistics. We never store your actual IP address, and this hash cannot be used to identify you or your location. We also use a single session cookie to keep you signed in — see "Cookies" below.
Moderation records. If content is reported, or if a moderator takes action on an account (a warning, a ban, a removal), we keep a log of that action so moderation stays accountable.
Ancient Chess is a social site by design, so some of what you do here is naturally visible to other people using it — this isn't "sharing with a third party," it's just how the features work: your display name, username, and avatar; any forum thread, reply, or news comment you post; your public game history; and chat messages you send in the public lobby or in a private game chat with your current opponent (visible only to the two of you).
Direct messages. Messages you send to a friend are visible to you and to that friend. They are not shown to other members and are not published anywhere on the Site. They are, however, stored in our database in ordinary readable form, and administrators can technically access them — as with any small site of this kind. We only do so where we genuinely need to: investigating a report, or dealing with something illegal or seriously harmful. They are not read routinely, and they are never used to train any AI model.
Conversations with the historical figures. These are private to you, but they are sent to our AI provider to generate each reply, and a running summary of the conversation is kept so a figure can remember earlier exchanges. See "Third parties we work with" below.
We don't sell or share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or anyone looking to use it for their own purposes. The only outside parties who ever touch your data are service providers who process it strictly to help us run the Site:
We may also disclose information if genuinely required to by law, such as in response to a valid court order.
We use a single essential session cookie to keep you signed in between visits. We don't use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.
You can update your profile information at any time from your account page. You can request that your account be deleted by contacting us below. Deleting an account removes your profile, your profile photo, your messages, your conversations with the figures, and your games. Content you posted publicly — forum threads and replies, news articles and comments — is removed along with it; where something of yours is quoted or replied to by someone else, that other person's post survives with your name detached from it rather than being deleted out from under them. Moderation records about the account are kept, as described above. We'll always explain clearly what will happen in your particular case rather than silently doing only part of what you asked.
Ancient Chess is not directed at, and is not intended to be used by, anyone under the age of 16. If we become aware that we've collected personal information from someone under 16, we'll delete it.
We take reasonable, standard measures to protect your information — including never storing passwords in plain text. No online service can guarantee perfect security, so we can't promise that data will never be exposed, but protecting it is something we take seriously.
If we make a meaningful change to how we handle your data, we'll update this page and the "Last updated" date above. Continuing to use the Site after a change means you accept the updated policy.
Questions about this policy or your data? Reach out at mcawlick@gmail.com.