Terms of Service

Version: 1.2 · Effective date: August 7, 2026 · Last updated: August 7, 2026

1. Who we are and what these Terms cover

AxiomChess ("the Service," "we," "us," or "our") is an independent chess‑improvement web application operated by Joshua Seiler, a sole proprietor based in Bradenton, Florida, USA.

• Contact: joshuadseiler@gmail.com

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and us and govern your access to and use of the Service, including any accounts, features, and content we make available. Our Privacy Policy is incorporated into these Terms by reference and explains how we handle personal data.

Please read these Terms carefully. Section 15 (Governing Law and Dispute Resolution) contains an informal dispute‑resolution requirement and a choice of Florida law and Florida courts, which affect how disputes are resolved.

2. Acceptance of these Terms

By creating an account, clicking to accept these Terms, or otherwise accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

We present these Terms to you before you create an account and require you to affirmatively accept them (for example, by checking a box or clicking "I agree"). Your acceptance includes the representation that you meet the eligibility requirements in Section 3. Account signup sends the fixed Terms and Privacy version markers together with a boolean recording that acceptance; the database validates them and records the versions and a server acceptance time. Your acceptance forms a contract between you and us.

3. Eligibility and minimum age

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service.

• The Service is a general‑audience product. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child under 13 without a permissible basis, we will delete it.
• If you are between 13 and the age of legal majority in your place of residence, you may use the Service only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian, who agrees to be bound by these Terms on your behalf.
• Users in the EU/UK and other regions with a higher digital‑consent age: where local law sets a higher minimum age for consent to information‑society services (in parts of the EU and the UK this can be up to 16), you may use the Service only if you meet that age or have verifiable parental or guardian consent as required by your local law.

By using the Service, you represent that you meet these requirements, and accepting these Terms at account sign‑up makes that representation. We record your acceptance as a boolean together with the accepted policy versions and a server time; we do not ask for or store your date of birth or exact age. We may suspend or terminate accounts that do not meet the minimum‑age requirement.

4. What the Service is

AxiomChess helps chess players study and improve their games. Key characteristics you should understand:

• Independent engine analysis, in your browser. Game analysis is performed by a chess engine (Stockfish) that runs entirely inside your own web browser using WebAssembly. Your games are analyzed on your device.
• Local‑first. Your game libraries, computed analyses, and puzzle progress are stored primarily in your browser (for example, in IndexedDB and local storage). If you create an optional cloud account, a limited set of derived analyses, archive-month coverage markers, and puzzle progress can sync to our cloud store. Games remain local or are re-fetched from their source; see the Privacy Policy for exactly what is stored.
• Game data you request. When you ask the Service to import your games, your own browser fetches them directly from third‑party public sources (such as Chess.com or Lichess). You can also import PGN game files directly (see Section 9). Our servers do not receive, proxy, or store your imported games (see Section 8).
• Deterministic coaching. The coaching and feedback features are generated by fixed rules and templates. They do not use, and do not send your data to, any artificial‑intelligence or large‑language‑model service.
• Free today; paid features planned. The Service is currently free to use. We plan to introduce a paid tier in the future; paid features will be governed by the additional terms in Section 12, which will apply only once such features are offered and you choose to purchase them.

5. No affiliation; third‑party trademarks

AxiomChess is an independent tool. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or otherwise associated with Chess.com, Lichess, or the Stockfish project or its authors.

"Chess.com," "Lichess," "Stockfish," and other third‑party names, logos, and marks are the property of their respective owners. We refer to them only nominatively — to accurately describe compatibility, data sources, and the engine we use — and not to imply any endorsement or partnership.

6. Accounts and credentials

Some features require an account. Accounts are optional and may be unavailable while we validate or maintain the account infrastructure.

• Accurate information. You agree to provide accurate information when you register and to keep it current.
• Your credentials. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. Do not share your password. Notify us promptly at joshuadseiler@gmail.com if you believe your account has been accessed without authorization.
• One person. Accounts are for individual use. You are responsible for use of your account whether or not you authorized it.
• Chess handles. If you link a chess platform handle (for example, your own Chess.com or Lichess username) to verify it, you represent that the handle is yours and that you are entitled to link and use it. To verify a handle, we perform a server‑side lookup of that handle's public profile on the relevant platform — the Chess.com "Location" field or the Lichess "Biography" — to read the verification code you place there. Proof lasts 30 days; after it expires, handle-scoped analysis and library-coverage sync pause until you renew with a rotated code and another public-profile lookup. Signed-in, account-level puzzle sync continues.
• Unlinking a handle. If cloud sync is enabled, unlinking a linked handle deletes the cloud analyses and library-coverage state attached to that handle. It does not by itself delete your login account, profile, or account-level puzzle progress; use account deletion to remove those remaining account records.
• Cloud limits. The current service allows at most 10 linked handles per account. Cloud analyses are limited to 2 MiB of uncompressed UTF-8 JSON text per row, 500 rows, and 20 MiB per account; cloud puzzle progress has a 1-MiB stored-payload limit. We may reject writes that exceed those limits.

7. Acceptable use

You agree to use the Service lawfully and only as intended. You will not:

1. Request, import, or process game data that you are not entitled to access, or use the Service to obtain another person's data in violation of their rights or a third party's terms.
2. Use the Service to violate the terms of service, acceptable‑use policies, or API terms of any third party (including Chess.com or Lichess), or to exceed rate limits or other technical restrictions those services impose.
3. Scrape, crawl, harvest, bulk‑download, or systematically extract data from the Service, or use bots or automated means to access it in a way that burdens or abuses our infrastructure.
4. Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service, or attempt to derive source code, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law or permitted by the license of an open‑source component we include (see Section 11).
5. Interfere with, disrupt, probe, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, its servers, or related systems; circumvent security or authentication measures; or defeat rate‑limiting or usage controls.
6. Introduce malware or malicious code, or use the Service to transmit unlawful, infringing, or harmful content.
7. Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service or its output except as expressly permitted by us in writing.

We may investigate and take appropriate action, including suspending or terminating access, for conduct that violates this section.

8. Third‑party data sources; your responsibility

The Service lets you bring in chess games from public third‑party sources so you can analyze them. How this works, and your responsibilities:

• Chess.com (import). When you import Chess.com games, your own browser requests them directly from Chess.com's public Published‑Data API. Our servers do not receive, proxy, or store your Chess.com game data; imported games are held in your browser.
• Lichess (import). When you import Lichess games, your own browser likewise requests the games you selected directly from Lichess's public game‑export API. Our servers do not receive, proxy, or store your Lichess game data; imported games are held in your browser.
• Lichess (opening explorer). Separately, the opening‑explorer feature ("how masters played here") looks up board positions through a small server‑side request to the Lichess Opening Explorer that sends only a board position (FEN) — no account or personal data. Our use of the Lichess Opening Explorer is subject to Lichess's API terms.
• Handle linking and renewal. As described in Section 6, when you link or renew a Chess.com or Lichess handle, we make a server‑side request to that platform to read your public profile for verification. No game data is stored server‑side as part of this step.
• Your entitlement. You are responsible for ensuring you have the right to request and use any game data you import, and for complying with the terms of the third‑party services you draw it from. Chess.com and Lichess are independent services with their own terms; your relationship with them is governed by their agreements, not ours.
• No control over third parties. We do not control third‑party services and are not responsible for their availability, accuracy, changes, or terms. Access to third‑party data may change or be withdrawn by those services at any time.

9. Your content and PGN import

In addition to fetching games from the platforms described in Section 8, the Service lets you import your own game files (PGN) — by selecting a file or pasting game text. Content you submit this way is "User Content." Because the Service is local‑first, imported games are parsed and stored in your browser; they are not uploaded to our servers.

• License to operate the Service. To the extent providing the Service involves storing, processing, reproducing, or displaying your User Content — for example, parsing the game, running analysis in your browser, and displaying the board and evaluations — you grant us a limited, non‑exclusive, worldwide, royalty‑free license to do so solely to provide the Service to you. This license exists only for as long as needed to provide the Service and ends when you delete the content or your account, except for content already processed or retained as required by law.
• You keep your rights. We claim no ownership of your User Content. We do not use your imported games for advertising, and we do not sell them.
• Your warranty. You represent and warrant that you have the necessary rights to submit the User Content you provide and to grant the license above, and that your User Content does not infringe or violate the rights of any third party.
• Repeat infringers and copyright notices. We respond to notices of claimed copyright infringement and will remove or disable access to infringing material where appropriate. Send notices under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act to joshuadseiler@gmail.com, including the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3). We maintain a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of repeat infringers.

10. Our intellectual property; license to you

The Service — including its software, design, text, and other materials we provide — is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by intellectual‑property laws. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non‑exclusive, non‑transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your own chess improvement.

We assert no ownership over your own game data beyond the limited license needed to run the Service (see Sections 4 and 9). All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

11. Open‑source components and Stockfish

The Service includes open‑source software. In particular, the Stockfish engine that runs in your browser is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 3 (GPLv3). Other libraries we use are provided under permissive open‑source licenses. Where the Service uses a downloadable Lichess dataset (for example, a puzzle database offered under a public‑domain dedication (CC0)), that use is governed by the terms of that dataset.

Notices and license texts for these components — including Stockfish and its GPLv3 terms — are available at /licenses. Your use of those components is governed by their respective licenses, and nothing in these Terms limits any rights you have under an applicable open‑source license.

12. Paid features (when offered)

The Service is currently free. This section will apply only if and when we introduce paid features and you choose to purchase them. When we do, we will present specific paid‑feature terms at the point of purchase, which will address at least:

• price, billing frequency, and any auto‑renewal, with clear notice before you are charged;
• how to cancel and how cancellation affects the current billing period;
• refunds and, for consumers in the EU/UK and other applicable regions, statutory withdrawal/cancellation rights and any permitted exceptions;
• the third‑party payment processor used to take payment (we do not store full payment‑card numbers ourselves); and
• taxes that may apply.

We will not charge you for paid features without your clear, affirmative agreement to the applicable pricing and terms.

13. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE, INCLUDING ALL CHESS ANALYSIS, ENGINE EVALUATIONS, MOVE CLASSIFICATIONS, ACCURACY AND RATING ESTIMATES, PUZZLES, AND COACHING FEEDBACK, IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON‑INFRINGEMENT.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR‑FREE, OR SECURE, OR THAT ANY ANALYSIS OR RECOMMENDATION IS ACCURATE OR COMPLETE. Chess analysis is inherently probabilistic and depends on engine depth, settings, your device, and the data you supply. Evaluations, estimated ratings, and recommendations are provided for informational and educational purposes only and come with no guarantee of accuracy and no guarantee of any competitive, rating, tournament, or other outcome. You are responsible for how you use the analysis.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits rights that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, and nothing here disclaims liability for fraud, for our own intentional misconduct or gross negligence, or under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA).

14. Limitation of liability and indemnity

Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, and except for liability that cannot be limited under applicable law:

• We will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
• Our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Service and these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you paid us for the Service in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) fifty U.S. dollars (US$50). Because the Service is currently free, this means our aggregate liability is limited to US$50 unless and until you have paid for a paid feature.

Carve‑outs. Nothing in this section limits or excludes liability for fraud, for our intentional misconduct or gross negligence, for FDUTPA violations, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you, and consumers may have rights that these limits do not affect.

Indemnity. To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from third‑party claims, losses, and reasonable expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of (a) your misuse of the Service, (b) your breach of these Terms, (c) your violation of a third party's rights or a third party's terms (including a chess platform's terms or API terms), or (d) content you submit through the import feature. This indemnity does not apply to the extent a claim arises from our own fraud, gross negligence, or intentional misconduct. Given that the Service is a free, individually operated tool, we will not seek indemnity for amounts that would be inequitable in the circumstances.

15. Governing law and dispute resolution

Governing law and forum. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, USA, without regard to its conflict‑of‑laws rules. Subject to the informal‑resolution process below, you and we agree to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state courts located in Manatee County, Florida, or the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, for any dispute. This choice of law and forum does not deprive consumers in the EU, the UK, or elsewhere of the protection of mandatory consumer‑protection rules of their country of residence that cannot be derogated from by agreement.

Informal resolution first. Before starting any formal proceeding, you agree to first contact us at joshuadseiler@gmail.com and describe the dispute, and to give us at least thirty (30) days to try to resolve it informally in good faith. Many disputes can be resolved this way.

No arbitration requirement; no class‑action waiver. These Terms do not require you to arbitrate disputes and do not waive your right to participate in a class action. Disputes proceed under the governing‑law and forum provisions above. Nothing in this section prevents either party from bringing a qualifying claim in small‑claims court or from seeking injunctive relief for intellectual‑property or unauthorized‑access matters.

16. Suspension, termination, and account deletion

• By you. You may stop using the Service at any time. If you have a cloud account, you can delete it from the account page. Deleting your account removes the data we hold for you in our cloud store, as described in the Privacy Policy. Data stored locally in your browser remains on your device until you clear it.
• By us. We may suspend or terminate your access, with or without notice, if you materially breach these Terms, use the Service unlawfully, create risk or legal exposure for us or others, or if we discontinue the Service. Where practical and lawful, we will give you reasonable notice.
• Effect. On termination, the licenses granted to you end. Sections that by their nature should survive — including Sections 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, and this Section 16 — survive termination.

17. Changes to the Service and to these Terms

• The Service. We may change, add, or remove features, or discontinue the Service or any part of it. Because the app is local‑first, analyses and data stored in your browser remain on your device unless you clear them.
• These Terms. We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and take reasonable steps to notify you — for example, by posting a notice in the Service or, for account holders, by email. Changes take effect on the stated effective date. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms; if you do not agree, stop using the Service and, if you wish, delete your account.

18. General

• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will stay in full force and effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or transfer of the Service, subject to applicable law.
• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any paid‑feature terms presented at purchase, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede prior agreements on that subject.
• Notices. Legal and support notices to us should be sent to joshuadseiler@gmail.com. We may provide notices to you in the Service or by email to any address associated with your account.

19. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at joshuadseiler@gmail.com.

Version 1.1 · Effective July 13, 2026.