CrunchChess Privacy Policy
Last Updated: August 20, 2026
CrunchChess ("we", "our", or "us") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information — and, because many of our users are children, the privacy of young learners in particular. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights available to you.
By creating an account or using CrunchChess, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
1. Information We Collect
Account information. When an account is created, we may collect a name or username, an email address, chess training preferences, and account settings or profile information.
Training information. To provide personalized training and progress tracking, we collect puzzle results, training activity, session history, progress metrics, and achievements or milestones.
Parent information. If a parent or guardian chooses to receive updates, we collect the parent email address, email subscription preferences, and the delivery/confirmation status of parent reports.
Marketing website information. If you ask us to email you a sample progress report from our public website, we collect the email address you enter in order to send that one email. We do not add it to a mailing list.
Technical and usage information. We may automatically collect browser type, device information, IP address, usage statistics, in-product activity/events, and error logs or performance information. Inside the CrunchChess training application this is first-party only — we use it to understand how features are used and to improve the platform, and we do not use it to serve advertising.
Analytics on our public website. Our marketing website (crunchchess.com) uses Google Analytics 4. It may collect the pages you view, an approximate geographic region derived from your IP address, device and browser information, the site or search that referred you, engagement information such as time on page, and clicks on our "Start Free Trial" buttons. Google Analytics is not used inside the CrunchChess training application, so a child's training activity is not sent to Google. We do not use Google Signals, advertising personalization, or Google's advertising features.
2. How We Use Information
We use information to provide chess training services; track progress and performance; deliver parent reports; send account-related communications; improve platform functionality; understand feature usage through analytics; monitor system performance and security; and respond to support requests.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not use children's information for advertising or behavioral targeting.
3. Parent Reports and Communications
Parents or guardians who opt in (and confirm their email address) may receive weekly progress reports, training summaries, product updates, and service notifications.
Parent report emails are sent only after the recipient confirms their address (double opt-in). Parents may unsubscribe from non-essential emails at any time using the unsubscribe link included in those communications, or by asking the student to turn off reports in their CrunchChess settings.
4. Children's Privacy
CrunchChess is designed to be used by young chess players with the involvement of a parent, guardian, school, coach, or chess program.
Account model. Accounts are intended to be created and overseen with adult involvement. If your child is under 13 (or under the minimum age of digital consent in your country), a parent or guardian should create and manage the account on the child's behalf and supervise its use.
What we collect from children. We collect only the information needed to provide the training service — a username/login, training activity, and progress data. We do not require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to use CrunchChess.
No advertising to children. We do not show third-party advertisements and we do not use children's information for advertising, profiling for marketing, or behavioral targeting.
Parental rights. Parents and guardians may review the personal information associated with their child's account, request that we correct it, or request that we delete it and terminate the account. To make a request, contact us at the address in Section 13. We may need to verify that you are the parent or guardian before acting on the request.
5. How We Share Information
We do not sell personal information. We share information only:
- with service providers that help us operate CrunchChess (see Section 6);
- when required by law, legal process, or a valid government request; and
- to protect the rights, safety, security, and integrity of CrunchChess, our users, or the public.
6. Service Providers and Data Storage
We rely on a small set of reputable infrastructure and service providers to run CrunchChess. They process information only to provide their service to us:
- Render — application and database hosting
- Cloudflare — security, DNS, and email routing, and, through Cloudflare R2, storage of our database backups
- Resend — outbound email delivery (e.g., verification and parent reports)
- Stripe — payment processing and subscription management. Card details are entered on Stripe's own hosted checkout pages; CrunchChess does not receive or store card numbers. We store subscription and customer identifiers returned by Stripe so we know what an account is entitled to.
- Google Analytics — analytics on our public marketing website only, as described in Sections 1 and 10. It is not used in the training application. Google's handling of this information is governed by Google's own privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
About backups. Database backups are stored in a private, access-controlled bucket, are transferred over encrypted connections, and are encrypted at rest by our storage provider. CrunchChess does not apply its own additional encryption to backup files.
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
7. International Data Transfers
Our service providers are located in the United States, so information may be processed and stored in the U.S. or other countries. If you access CrunchChess from outside these regions, you understand that your information may be transferred to, and processed in, locations whose data-protection laws may differ from those in your country.
8. Data Retention
We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the service, maintain records, improve the platform, and comply with legal obligations.
When an account is deleted, every table holding information about that account is handled according to an explicit, recorded decision. Most records are deleted outright. A small number are anonymized — the record itself has continuing value to us (for example, a report that a puzzle was faulty), but the link to the account is removed. A small number are retained: these are records of administrator actions, including the deletion itself, which we keep so that we can show what was done and when, and for ordinary accounting and tax records relating to payments.
Residual copies may remain in routine backups for a limited period until those backups are rotated out of retention, after which they are deleted.
Users (or a parent/guardian on a child's behalf) may request deletion of an account by contacting us.
9. Your Rights and Choices
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to:
- access the personal information we hold about you;
- correct inaccurate information;
- delete your account and associated information;
- export / port a copy of certain information;
- object to or restrict certain processing; and
- withdraw consent (for example, by unsubscribing from optional emails).
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address in Section 13. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe and as required by applicable law, and we may need to verify your identity (or your status as a parent/guardian) first.
10. Cookies and Similar Technologies
In the training application. CrunchChess primarily uses your browser's local storage for session and preference information — this is what keeps you signed in between visits and remembers the settings you have chosen.
On our public marketing website. The public marketing website uses Google
Analytics cookies (for example _ga) on crunchchess.com for analytics, to count
visits and to distinguish one visitor from another. These are analytics cookies,
not advertising cookies.
We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Most browsers let you control or clear cookies and local storage, though disabling them may affect how the service works.
11. Third-Party Links
CrunchChess may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third parties, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will post the updated version on the CrunchChess website with a revised "Last Updated" date. Material changes will be communicated by reasonable means.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to request access, correction, deletion, or export of information (including on behalf of your child), please contact:
CrunchChess Email: admin@crunchchess.com Website: https://crunchchess.com
Support inquiries are typically answered within 1–2 business days.