Terms of Service

CommuniChess lets you play chess, talk to your opponent by text and live video, and post to a shared community feed. Games are played through Lichess using the Lichess account you connect, and Lichess's own terms apply to those games.

You must be 18 or older to create an account. You are responsible for everything done through your account, and for keeping your sign-in details secure.

There is zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive behaviour on CommuniChess. Posting objectionable content, or abusing another player in chat or on video, will get your account suspended or permanently removed — on the first offence, without warning, and without a refund of anything you have paid.

These rules apply equally to posts, photos, text chat, your username and profile, and anything you say or show on live video.

• Sexual content, nudity, or any sexual conduct — including exposing yourself on camera.
• Any sexual content involving minors, and any attempt to contact, groom or solicit a minor. We report this to law enforcement.
• Harassment, bullying, threats, stalking, or repeated unwanted contact.
• Hate speech or attacks based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age.
• Violence, gore, self-harm content, or encouraging anyone to harm themselves or others.
• Illegal activity, illegal goods, or content that infringes someone else's rights.
• Sharing another person's private information, photos or location without their consent.
• Impersonating another person, or misrepresenting who you are.
• Spam, scams, phishing, or unsolicited advertising.
• Cheating at chess — engine assistance, account sharing, sandbagging or rating manipulation.
• Recording or screenshotting another player's video call without their consent.
• Automated access, scraping, or attempts to break, overload or reverse-engineer the service.

Video and audio calls connect you directly to another player. Calls are not recorded by us. Treat a call the way you would treat meeting a stranger: keep the camera on yourself, do not show anything you would not show in public, and do not share personal details you would not give out to someone you have just met.

You can end a call at any time, and you can report or block the other player from inside the call. Blocking cuts off chat, challenges and friend requests in both directions immediately.

Every user can report another user or a specific post, and every user can block another user. Reports go to a moderation queue that we review.

We review every report and act on it within 24 hours. Acting means removing the offending content, and suspending or permanently removing the account behind it when the report is upheld. Accounts reported by several different users are suspended automatically pending review.

Posts and messages are also screened automatically before they are published. Content that clearly breaks the rules above is refused outright and never appears; borderline content is published but queued for a moderator to look at. No automated check is perfect, which is why reporting matters — if something got through, tell us.

You can also email support@communichess.com to report something. Include the username and, if you can, when it happened.

You keep ownership of what you post. By posting, you give us permission to store and display it inside CommuniChess so the feature works. You can delete a post at any time, and deleting your account removes your posts and photos.

You are responsible for having the right to post what you post — including the right to post photos of other people.

We may suspend or remove an account that breaks these rules, that is repeatedly reported, or that puts other users at risk. Where it is reasonable to do so we will tell you why. You can appeal by emailing support@communichess.com.

You can close your account yourself at any time — see Delete your account.

CommuniChess is provided as it is, without warranty of any kind. We do not promise that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that a given player will be available. We may change or discontinue features.

To the maximum extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from your use of CommuniChess, or for the conduct of other users. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

We may update these terms. The date at the top of this page shows the current version, and material changes will be announced in the app. Continuing to use CommuniChess after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms: support@communichess.com. See also our Privacy Policy and Support pages.