Terms of Service

These terms govern your use of Chess Puzzle Vault. By creating an account or using the site, you agree to them. Please read them along with our Privacy Policy.

1. Acceptance of terms

By accessing or using Chess Puzzle Vault, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, please do not use the site.

2. Eligibility

You must be able to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction to create an account. If you are under the age of majority where you live, you should only use Chess Puzzle Vault with the involvement of a parent or guardian.

3. Your account

• You must provide accurate registration information and keep it up to date.
• You're responsible for maintaining the security of your password and for all activity that happens under your account.
• Notify us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.
• One account per person. Accounts are personal and may not be sold, shared, or transferred.

4. Acceptable use

To keep training, ratings, and the leaderboard meaningful for everyone, you agree not to:

• Use engines, bots, or automated tools to solve puzzles on your behalf.
• Attempt to manipulate your rating, streak, or leaderboard position through unfair means.
• Scrape, crawl, or bulk-download puzzle data or site content without permission.
• Probe, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site or other users' accounts.
• Upload or transmit anything unlawful, abusive, or infringing through the contact form or any user-facing input.
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with anyone.

We may investigate suspected violations and take action including warnings, rating resets, or account suspension.

5. Puzzle content & intellectual property

The Chess Puzzle Vault name, logo, interface design, and original written content are owned by us. Puzzle positions are provided for personal, educational use. You may not redistribute, resell, or bulk-export puzzle data for commercial purposes without our prior written permission.

6. Your content

If you submit content to us — such as a display name, profile information, or a contact-form message — you confirm you have the right to share it and grant us a limited license to use it solely to operate and improve the service (for example, displaying your username on the leaderboard).

7. Advertising & third-party services

Chess Puzzle Vault is free to use and may be supported in part by advertising, including Google AdSense, and relies on third-party engine analysis (Stockfish) to power move evaluation. Use of those services is subject to their own terms where applicable. See our Privacy Policy for details on advertising and cookies.

8. Disclaimer of warranties

The service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We don't guarantee the site will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that every puzzle rating or engine evaluation will be perfectly accurate. Chess puzzles and analysis are provided for training and educational purposes.

9. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Chess Puzzle Vault and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, the service.

10. Termination

You may stop using the service and request account deletion at any time by contacting us. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, with or without notice, particularly in cases of abuse, security risk, or repeated policy violations.

11. Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms as the platform evolves. We'll update the "last updated" date above when we do. Continuing to use Chess Puzzle Vault after changes take effect means you accept the revised terms.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms? Reach out via our contact page.