Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are entered into by and between [Provider legal name], a [entity type] with a principal place of business at [principal address] ("Provider", "we", "us", or "our"), and you, the user ("User" or "you"). The Terms govern your access to and use of the ChessTrophies website, mobile applications, software, application programming interfaces, and related services (collectively, the "Service").

By creating an account, clicking to accept these Terms, or accessing or using the Service in any manner, you represent that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.

1. Definitions

For purposes of these Terms, capitalized terms not otherwise defined have the meanings below:

• "Account" means an individual user account on the Service.
• "Content" means any text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, tags, interactive features, or other materials of any kind appearing on or transmitted through the Service.
• "User Content" means Content submitted, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or otherwise made available by you via the Service, including without limitation your username, profile region, in-game chat, and game records.
• "Provider Content" means all Content made available through the Service other than User Content, including the underlying software, the chess piece designs, lesson materials, trophy concepts, the ChessTrophies marks, and Provider-supplied artwork.
• "Subscription" means a paid recurring subscription to the Premium tier of the Service.

2. Acceptance and Amendment

2.1 Acceptance. By accessing or using the Service, you accept these Terms.

2.2 Amendment. We may modify these Terms by posting a revised version on the Service and updating the "Last revised" date. Material changes will be communicated by in-app notice, by email to account holders, or by other reasonable means at least thirty (30) days before the effective date, except for changes required by law, regulatory order, or material new functionality, which may take effect on a shorter timeline. Your continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to amended Terms, you must stop using the Service and may delete your Account.

3. Eligibility

3.1 Minimum age. You must be at least thirteen (13) years old (or, if you reside in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or any other jurisdiction with a higher age of digital consent, the local age of digital consent — which may be up to sixteen (16)) to create an Account or use the Service. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet this age threshold.

3.2 Capacity. You must have the legal capacity to enter into binding contracts. If you are between the local age of digital consent and the local age of majority, you affirm that a parent or legal guardian has reviewed and approved these Terms.

3.3 Sanctioned jurisdictions. You may not use the Service if you are located in, or are a resident or national of, any country or territory subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions (including, as of the effective date, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, so-called Donetsk People's Republic, and so-called Luhansk People's Republic regions of Ukraine), or if you are listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

4. Account Registration and Security

4.1 Registration. To access certain features, you must register for an Account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information and to maintain that information.

4.2 One Account per person. You may register and use only one Account. Multi-accounting, sandbagging, or other rating manipulation is grounds for immediate termination.

4.3 Security. You are responsible for safeguarding your credentials. You agree to notify us immediately at [security@chesstrophies.com] of any unauthorized use of your Account or other breach of security. We are not liable for losses caused by unauthorized use of your Account that occurs before notification.

4.4 No transfer. Accounts are personal to you and may not be transferred, sold, gifted, traded, or assigned without our prior written consent.

5. Acceptable Use; Prohibited Conduct

You agree that you will not, and will not assist or permit any third party to:

1. Cheat or unfairly assist your play — including using any chess engine, opening book, endgame tablebase, position-analysis software, or any human or automated assistance during ranked play. Use of engines during analysis features intended for that purpose is permitted.
2. Manipulate ratings — including but not limited to sandbagging, boosting, collusion, multi-accounting, or coordinating draws to gain trophies or ranking positions.
3. Engage in harassment — including hate speech, slurs, threats, sexual content, doxxing, stalking, or harassment of any other User or our personnel in usernames, chat, support tickets, or any other communication.
4. Impersonate any person or entity, including any titled chess player, public figure, our personnel, or another User.
5. Exploit bugs, security vulnerabilities, or technical errors for personal benefit, and not promptly report such issues to us.
6. Use automated means to access the Service, including bots, scrapers, crawlers, or scripts, except for compliant access by major search-engine indexers using publicly documented robots.txt directives.
7. Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Service, except to the extent the foregoing restriction is prohibited by mandatory law.
8. Circumvent any rate-limiting, security, or access-control mechanisms.
9. Send spam, malware, or unsolicited promotional material through the Service.
10. Use the Service for any unlawful purpose, in violation of any applicable law, or in a manner that infringes another person's rights.
11. Misrepresent your age, identity, or eligibility.
12. Encourage or facilitate any of the above.

We may, in our sole discretion and without notice, investigate alleged violations, remove or modify content, suspend or terminate Accounts, withdraw rankings or trophies, and report violations to law enforcement.

6. User Content; License Grant

6.1 Ownership. You retain ownership of intellectual property rights in your User Content.

6.2 License to us. You grant Provider a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, modify (for technical purposes such as transcoding, formatting, or moderation), create derivative works of, and otherwise use your User Content solely for the purpose of operating, providing, securing, and improving the Service, and for the limited promotional purposes set forth in Section 6.4. This license survives termination only to the extent necessary for archival, legal, regulatory, or back-end purposes.

6.3 License to other users. Game records, usernames, regions, and similar information that are inherently public-facing within the Service (e.g., visible on rankings) are licensed to other Users for the limited purpose of using the Service.

6.4 Promotional use. Provider may use aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified statistics about gameplay for marketing and promotional purposes. Provider will not use your username in marketing materials without your consent except as part of public-facing features such as leaderboards.

6.5 Representations. You represent and warrant that (i) you own or have all necessary rights to your User Content; (ii) it does not infringe any third-party rights; and (iii) it complies with these Terms and applicable law.

6.6 No obligation to monitor. We have no obligation to monitor User Content but reserve the right to do so and to remove or refuse to display any User Content for any reason.

7. Provider Intellectual Property; Limited License

7.1 Ownership. Provider Content is owned by Provider or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. All rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved.

7.2 Limited license to you. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Provider grants you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial use, except as expressly permitted by the Premium tier.

7.3 Trademarks. "ChessTrophies" and the ChessTrophies logo are trademarks of Provider. You may not use Provider's marks without prior written permission. The chess game itself, opening names, and standard chess notation are common public-domain concepts and not claimed as Provider Content.

7.4 Open-source. Portions of the Service incorporate open-source components subject to their own licenses, including chess.js (MIT) and the Inter font (SIL Open Font License 1.1). A full list is provided in the LICENSES.md file distributed with the Service.

8. Copyright Infringement Notices (DMCA)

Provider respects the intellectual property of others and complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), 17 U.S.C. § 512. If you believe that Content on the Service infringes your copyright, you may submit a notice containing all of the following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorized agent;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
3. Identification of the material claimed to be infringing, with sufficient information to locate it;
4. Your name, address, telephone number, and email address;
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
6. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner.

Submit notices to our Designated Agent:

Designated Copyright Agent
[Provider legal name, Attn: DMCA Agent]
[Postal address]
[Telephone]
Email: [copyright@chesstrophies.com]

Counter-notices may be submitted under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). Repeat infringers will have their Accounts terminated.

9. Subscriptions, Pricing, Billing, Renewal, and Refunds

9.1 Premium subscription. The Service offers a Premium tier as a recurring Subscription. Current pricing is displayed in the Service before checkout. By starting a Subscription you authorize Provider, or its payment processor, to charge your designated payment method.

9.2 Automatic renewal disclosure. YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AUTOMATICALLY RENEWS AT THE END OF EACH BILLING PERIOD AT THE THEN-CURRENT PRICE FOR YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TIER UNTIL YOU CANCEL. WE WILL CHARGE THE PAYMENT METHOD YOU HAVE ON FILE FOR EACH RENEWAL. This disclosure is provided to satisfy applicable automatic-renewal laws including California Business & Professions Code §§ 17600-17606, New York General Business Law § 527-a, and similar statutes.

9.3 Cancellation. You may cancel at any time by clicking "Cancel subscription" in your Account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the then-current billing period; you retain Premium benefits until that date. For Subscriptions purchased through Apple's App Store or Google Play, you must cancel through your store account.

9.4 Pricing changes. We may change Subscription pricing for renewal periods with at least thirty (30) days advance notice. Continued use after the new pricing takes effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not accept new pricing, you must cancel before it takes effect.

9.5 Refunds. Except as required by mandatory law:

• Subscription fees are non-refundable for partial billing periods;
• EU and UK consumers have a statutory 14-day right of withdrawal under Article 9 of the Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83/EU) for distance contracts. However, by starting your Subscription and consenting to immediate provision of digital content, you acknowledge that the right of withdrawal is lost once performance has begun (Article 16(m) of the Consumer Rights Directive);
• If your jurisdiction provides a non-waivable refund right notwithstanding the above, that right applies;
• Where the Subscription is purchased through Apple's App Store or Google Play, refund requests must be directed to and are subject to the policies of that store.

9.6 Taxes. Prices are exclusive of applicable taxes unless otherwise stated. You are responsible for any sales, use, value-added, withholding, or similar taxes.

9.7 Free trial (if offered). If we offer a free trial, you will be charged at the standard Subscription rate when the trial ends unless you cancel before the end of the trial.

10. Advertising

Free-tier accounts see advertisements delivered through third-party advertising networks. Advertisements may be selected based on signals provided to those networks, including (where applicable and consented to) Personal Information. You can opt out of personalized advertising in your Account settings, through industry opt-out tools (NAI, DAA), and through recognized opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control. We do not endorse advertised products and are not responsible for advertiser conduct.

11. Third-Party Services

The Service may integrate with or link to third-party services (e.g., Stripe, Google AdSense, Google Fonts, the Inter font CDN, Cloudflare, application stores). Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies. Provider is not responsible for the availability, content, or practices of third-party services.

12. Suspension; Termination; Survival

12.1 By you. You may stop using the Service at any time and may delete your Account in your settings.

12.2 By us. We may suspend or terminate your Account or restrict access to the Service: (i) if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms; (ii) if your use creates risk or legal exposure to Provider; (iii) if your Account remains inactive for an extended period; (iv) for compliance with law or regulatory order; or (v) for our convenience upon reasonable notice. Where feasible and lawful, we will provide notice before suspension or termination.

12.3 Effect of termination. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately. Sections that by their nature should survive (including Sections 6.2 (license), 7 (IP), 13 (Disclaimers), 14 (Liability), 15 (Indemnification), 16 (Governing Law), 17 (Arbitration), 18 (Consumer rights), and 21 (Miscellaneous)) shall survive termination.

13. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without warranty of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Provider, its affiliates, licensors, and service providers disclaim all warranties and conditions, whether express, implied, or statutory, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, accuracy, quiet enjoyment, system integration, and non-infringement.

Without limiting the foregoing, Provider does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, free of viruses or other harmful components, or that defects will be corrected. Provider makes no warranty regarding the conduct of other Users.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties; in such jurisdictions the foregoing exclusions apply only to the extent permitted by law.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will Provider, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, suppliers, or licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including without limitation lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, loss of goodwill, business interruption, or cost of substitute services, arising out of or in connection with these Terms or your use of (or inability to use) the Service, whether based on contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, statute, or any other legal theory, and whether or not Provider has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

In no event will Provider's aggregate liability for all claims relating to these Terms or the Service exceed the greater of (i) the total amount paid by you to Provider during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the liability, or (ii) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100.00 USD).

The foregoing limitations apply to the maximum extent permitted by law and shall not limit liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, including liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

15. Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Provider and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, and service providers from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (i) your violation of these Terms; (ii) your misuse of the Service; (iii) your User Content; (iv) your violation of any law or any third-party right; or (v) any dispute between you and any other User or third party.

We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defense of such claim. You will not settle any claim without our prior written consent.

16. Governing Law

Except as expressly provided otherwise in Section 18 for consumers in certain jurisdictions, these Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the [State of Delaware], [United States], without giving effect to its conflict-of-laws principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

17. Dispute Resolution; Binding Arbitration; Class Action Waiver

Please read this Section carefully. It requires you and Provider to resolve most disputes through binding individual arbitration and waives your right to participate in a class action, class arbitration, or representative action. Section 17.7 explains how you may opt out within 30 days.

17.1 Informal resolution. Before initiating arbitration, you and Provider agree to attempt to resolve any dispute informally for at least sixty (60) days. You must send a written notice of dispute to [legal@chesstrophies.com] describing the claim, the relief sought, and your contact details. Provider will send any notice to the email address on file for your Account.

17.2 Binding arbitration. If the dispute is not resolved within sixty (60) days, you and Provider agree that any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Consumer Arbitration Rules then in effect, except as modified by these Terms. The arbitration will be conducted in [county and state of arbitration] or, at your election if you are a consumer, your county of residence, or remotely. The arbitrator's award may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.

17.3 Class action waiver. You and Provider agree that each may bring claims against the other only in your or its individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, mass, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.

17.4 Jury trial waiver. You and Provider waive any right to a jury trial.

17.5 Exceptions. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court for disputes within that court's jurisdiction, and either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, or violation of intellectual property rights.

17.6 Severability of this Section. If the class-action waiver in Section 17.3 is found unenforceable, the entirety of Section 17 (other than this sentence and Section 17.4) is null and void, but the rest of the Terms remain in effect. If a court determines that injunctive relief may not be arbitrated, that portion may proceed in court while the remainder proceeds in arbitration.

17.7 Right to opt out. You may opt out of this Section 17 by sending written notice to [legal@chesstrophies.com] within thirty (30) days of first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include your full name, email address used for your Account, postal address, and a clear statement that you want to opt out. Opt-out will not affect any other terms.

18. Mandatory Consumer Rights and Jurisdiction-Specific Notices

18.1 EU and UK consumers. Nothing in these Terms affects mandatory rights you have as a consumer under the laws of your country of residence that cannot be waived by contract. EU consumers may also access the European Commission's online dispute-resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. We are not obliged and do not commit to use an alternative-dispute-resolution body to resolve disputes with consumers.

18.2 California users. Under California Civil Code § 1789.3, California users are entitled to the following notice: the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

18.3 New Jersey users. Provisions of these Terms that, under New Jersey law, may not be enforced against New Jersey consumers (including certain provisions relating to limitation of liability, indemnification, and the class-action waiver) shall not apply to such consumers to the extent prohibited by law.

18.4 Other consumer protections. If you reside in a jurisdiction whose mandatory consumer law gives you greater rights than these Terms, those rights prevail to the extent required by that mandatory law. The choice of law in Section 16 and the arbitration agreement in Section 17 apply only to the extent permitted by your local mandatory consumer law.

19. Mobile App Provisions (Apple App Store and Google Play)

If you download the Service through Apple's App Store or Google Play (each, a "Store"), the following apply in addition to the rest of these Terms.

19.1 Apple Required Provisions

These Terms are between you and Provider only, not Apple. Apple is not responsible for the Service or its content. The license granted to you for use of the Service is limited to a non-transferable license to use the Service on Apple-branded devices on which iOS, iPadOS, or other Apple operating system is installed and that you own or control, subject to the App Store Terms of Service. To the extent Provider is unable to fully perform its obligations under any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, which will refund the purchase price (if any) attributable to the Service. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the Service. Provider, not Apple, is responsible for any product claims relating to the Service. Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

19.2 Google Play

For the Service downloaded through Google Play, Google Play's Terms of Service apply in addition to these Terms. Provider is responsible for the Service and its content as between you and Provider; Google has no obligation or liability for the Service.

20. Export Controls and Sanctions

The Service may be subject to U.S. export-control and sanctions laws, including the Export Administration Regulations (15 C.F.R. Parts 730-774), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130), and economic-sanctions programs administered by the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. You may not use, export, re-export, or transfer the Service in violation of any applicable export-control or sanctions law. You represent that you are not located in a sanctioned country and are not listed on any U.S. Government denied-party list.

21. Miscellaneous

21.1 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any additional terms you accept, constitute the entire agreement between you and Provider relating to the Service and supersede all prior agreements relating to the same.

21.2 Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect; the unenforceable provision shall be replaced with an enforceable provision that most closely reflects the intent of the original.

21.3 No waiver. No waiver of any provision shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver.

21.4 Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your rights without our prior written consent. We may freely assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets.

21.5 No third-party beneficiaries. Except as expressly stated (for example, Apple under Section 19.1), there are no third-party beneficiaries to these Terms.

21.6 Force majeure. Provider is not liable for any failure or delay in performance due to causes beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, epidemic or pandemic, network or telecommunications outage, denial-of-service attack, or labor disturbance.

21.7 Electronic communications and signatures. You consent to receive communications from us electronically and agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications we provide electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. Electronic signatures and records are valid pursuant to the U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 7001-7006, and analogous laws.

21.8 Notices. Notices to us may be sent to [legal@chesstrophies.com] and to [postal address]. Notices to you may be sent to the email address on file for your Account or by in-app notification.

21.9 Headings; interpretation. Headings are for convenience only. The words "include" and "including" are deemed followed by the words "without limitation".

21.10 Language. These Terms are written in English. Any translation is provided as a convenience; the English version controls.

21.11 Equitable relief. You acknowledge that breach of Sections 5 (Acceptable Use), 7 (IP), or 20 (Export Controls) may cause Provider irreparable harm and entitle Provider to injunctive or other equitable relief without bond.

21.12 Government users. If you are a U.S. federal, state, or local government entity, the Service is "commercial computer software" and "commercial computer software documentation" pursuant to FAR 12.212 and DFARS 227.7202, licensed under the commercial terms of these Terms.

22. Contact

• General: [support@chesstrophies.com]
• Legal / disputes: [legal@chesstrophies.com]
• Privacy: [privacy@chesstrophies.com]
• DMCA: [copyright@chesstrophies.com]
• Security disclosure: [security@chesstrophies.com]
• Postal: [Provider legal name, postal address]

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These Terms were prepared as a template using attorney-style drafting conventions. They are not legal advice and must be reviewed and tailored by qualified counsel admitted in each jurisdiction where Provider operates. The arbitration provisions (Section 17), automatic-renewal disclosures (Section 9), DMCA designated-agent designation (Section 8), Apple-required clauses (Section 19), and consumer-protection notices (Section 18) each have technical compliance requirements (including, for the DMCA, current registration with the U.S. Copyright Office) that must be implemented separately from this document.