Terms of use

Who we are

These terms are a contract between you and the company named above, which runs openpawn.org. In these terms, “OpenPawn”, “we” and “us” always mean that company, and “you” means the person who uses the site.

OpenPawn writes its legal texts in English. The English version is the original, and the versions in other languages are translations for your convenience. If a translation differs from the English or is unclear, the English version applies; where the meaning is in doubt, the reading more favourable to you as a consumer prevails.

The service

OpenPawn is a chess site: a coach to play and learn with, puzzles, lessons, analysis, games against people, communities and tournaments. Using it is free.

We keep developing OpenPawn and may change, add or remove features for a valid reason, such as new technology, security, a change in the law, or how people use a feature. A change never costs you anything extra. If a change makes it more than slightly harder for you to use OpenPawn, we tell you at least four weeks ahead by email, and you may end the contract free of charge within 30 days of the change.

We work to keep the site available and secure, but it may sometimes be down, for example for maintenance or for reasons beyond our control.

Your account

• One account per person, with your true year of birth.
• If you are under 16, a parent or guardian must agree to these terms for you before you open an account.
• Keep your password and sign in codes to yourself. Tell us at once if you think someone else got into your account.
• Usernames must not pretend to be someone else, OpenPawn or a well known player, and must not be offensive. A username can never be changed or used again by anyone else.

You can delete your account at any time under Settings, then Data. That ends this contract.

Rules for using OpenPawn

When you use OpenPawn, do not:

• harass, threaten, insult or discriminate against anyone, or post anything illegal, sexual or violent in names, descriptions, studies, messages to the team or anything else;
• collect other players’ data, spam, or advertise without our permission;
• attack the site, get around its limits or security, scrape it in a way that strains it, or play or act through automated means;
• use OpenPawn for anything that breaks the law or the rights of others.

Fair play

In games against people and in tournaments, play on your own. Do not use engines, other programs, books or databases, or the help of other people, during the game. Do not manipulate ratings, for example by losing on purpose, by playing yourself with a second account, or by arranging results.

To protect fair play, our server checks rated games after they end, as the privacy policy explains. The checks only bring an account to a moderator. A person looks at the evidence and decides; nothing happens to your account on the basis of the checks alone.

If we find unfair play, we may warn you, take back the rating you gained in the games concerned and give your opponents back what they lost, keep you off leaderboards, remove titles, medals or tournament results, or suspend or close the account. You are told what we decided and why, and you can appeal, as described below.

What you post

What you create on OpenPawn stays yours: your profile, community names and descriptions, studies, homework, club listings and messages to the team. You allow OpenPawn to store, copy, show and adapt it to the format of the site, worldwide and free of charge, for as long as it is on OpenPawn, to run and show the service. When you delete it, or your account, the licence ends, except for copies other players keep in their own games and for the time until backups expire.

Chess moves cannot be owned. Anyone may replay, analyse and show games played on OpenPawn. You confirm that you have the rights to what you post and that it breaks no law.

Our content

The courses, lessons, puzzles, coach texts and voices, the bots, the design and the software of OpenPawn belong to OpenPawn or to those who licensed them to us, and are protected by copyright. You may use them on OpenPawn for your own chess. You may not copy them in bulk, sell them or use them to build another service.

Some parts are made by others and come with their own licences, such as the chess engines, piece sets and voice models. Those licences are listed on our licences page and take precedence for those parts.

Reporting illegal content

Anyone can tell us about content on OpenPawn they believe is illegal (Art. 16 DSA). Use the report button where there is one, or write to the contact point at the top of this page, and include:

• where the content is, ideally its exact address (URL);
• why you believe it is illegal;
• your name and email address, unless the report concerns child sexual abuse material;
• a statement that you report in good faith and that the information is accurate.

We confirm that we received your report, decide promptly, carefully and objectively, and tell you what we decided and how you can challenge it. A person decides every report; we do not use automated means for that. If content suggests a threat to someone’s life or safety, we inform the authorities (Art. 18 DSA).

Moderation decisions and appeals

We may remove or hide content, change a username that breaks these terms, warn you, restrict features, suspend an account for a time, or close it, when content is illegal or breaks these terms. We act in proportion to what happened, taking into account how serious it was, whether it happened before, and the rights of everyone involved, including freedom of expression.

When we restrict your content or account, you get a statement of reasons on your account standing page and by email (Art. 17 DSA). It says what we did and for how long, the facts we relied on, which rule of these terms or which law it is based on, whether automated means were involved, and how you can challenge it.

You can appeal within six months by answering the statement of reasons or writing to the contact point. A person looks at the decision again with your arguments and tells you the result with reasons. At present one moderator decides cases; once we have more, someone who did not take the first decision reviews the appeal. If we were wrong, we undo the decision without delay.

You can also turn to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body, or go to court at any time. If someone often posts manifestly illegal content, or often sends manifestly unfounded reports, we may suspend their account or stop handling their reports for a reasonable time, after a warning.

Ending the contract

You can end this contract at any time by deleting your account. We can end it with four weeks’ notice by email, for example if we close OpenPawn; you can then still download your data, and if you paid for anything in advance, you get back what you paid for the time after the end.

We can close an account without notice if there is good cause, in particular serious or repeated breaches of these terms, unfair play after a warning, or illegal content. You get a statement of reasons and can appeal as described above.

Liability

OpenPawn is fully liable for intent and gross negligence, for harm to life, body or health, and where the law allows no limit, such as under product liability law. For slight negligence we are liable only if we breach an obligation that is essential to the contract and on which you may rely, and then only for the damage that was typical and foreseeable. Otherwise we are not liable for slight negligence.

These limits also apply to our staff and to those who help us. Nothing in these terms limits your statutory rights as a consumer.

Changes to these terms

We may change these terms for a valid reason, such as a change in the law or in court rulings, new features, or to fight abuse. We tell you about changes at least four weeks before they apply, by email or on the site, with what changes.

Changes that only clarify, or only add rights for you, apply on the date given. A change to what you mainly get from OpenPawn, or to the price or scope of a paid service, applies only if you agree to it. If you don’t agree, the current terms stay in force for you, and either side may end the contract as described above.

Law and courts

These terms are governed by the law of the country where OpenPawn has its registered office, shown at the top of this page. If you are a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where you live (Art. 6(2) Rome I Regulation).

As a consumer in the EU you can bring a claim against us in the courts of the country where you live or in those of our registered office, and we can sue you only in the courts of the country where you live (Art. 18 Brussels I Regulation). For businesses, the courts at our registered office have jurisdiction.

If a provision of these terms is invalid, the rest stays in force, and the statutory rules apply in its place.