Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Kings and Queens Chess Academy LLC ("CKQ," "we," "our," or "us") operates the Chess Kings & Queens platform at chesskq.com, including online and in-person chess education programs for students ages 5–18 in New Jersey, North Carolina, and online nationwide. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect personal information when you use our website, register for programs, or interact with our platform.

By using our website or enrolling in any of our programs, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

2. Information We Collect

Account & Parent Information

• Parent/guardian name, email address, phone number
• Billing address and payment method details (card processing is handled by Stripe — we never store full card numbers)
• Username and password (stored as a secure hash — we never see your plain-text password)
• How you heard about us (optional)

Student Information

• Student first and last name
• Date of birth and grade level
• School name (optional)
• USCF ID, FIDE ID, and chess ratings (where provided)
• Lesson progress, homework scores, puzzle results, and mission results
• Class attendance records

Registration & Event Data

• Tournament and camp registration details (sections, dates, byes)
• Emergency contact information (where collected)
• Newsletter opt-in preference

Usage & Technical Data

• Pages visited and time spent on the site (via Google Analytics — anonymized)
• Browser type, device type, operating system
• IP address (used for security and analytics; not linked to individual identities)

3. Children Under 13 (COPPA)

We treat all student accounts as potentially belonging to children under 13. A parent or legal guardian must create an account and provide consent before a student can participate in any CKQ program. By creating an account and enrolling a student, the parent or guardian provides verifiable parental consent for us to collect and use that student's personal information as described in this policy.

What We Collect from Students

We collect from students only the information reasonably necessary to deliver our educational services: name, date of birth, grade, chess ratings and IDs (where provided), and educational progress data (lesson completion, homework scores, mission results). We do not collect more information than we need.

How We Use Student Information

Student data is used exclusively to deliver chess education services — tracking progress, assigning appropriate curriculum levels, enabling coaches to monitor performance, and communicating with parents about their child's progress. We do not use student data for advertising or profiling.

We Never Sell Student Data

We do not sell, rent, or trade the personal information of children to third parties. Student data is never shared with advertisers or used for behavioral advertising targeting.

Parental Rights Under COPPA

Parents and guardians have the right to:

• Review the personal information we have collected about their child
• Correct inaccurate information
• Request deletion of their child's personal information
• Refuse further collection or use of their child's information

To exercise any of these rights, email us at admin@chesskq.com from the email address associated with your account. We will respond within 30 days. Note that deleting a student's account will remove access to all program materials and progress history, and may affect ongoing enrollments.

If we discover that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information promptly.

4. How We Use Your Information

• Deliver and manage chess education programs (classes, camps, tournaments)
• Process payments and send payment confirmations and receipts
• Send class schedules, reminders, and important program updates
• Enable coaches to track student progress and assign curriculum
• Send our newsletter (only if you opted in; you may unsubscribe at any time)
• Improve the platform through anonymized usage analytics
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms & Conditions
• Use photos and videos taken at CKQ events for marketing and promotional purposes (see Section 8 of our Terms & Conditions for the full media release policy and opt-out procedure)

5. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate our platform. Each is bound by its own privacy policy. We share only the information necessary for each service to function.

• Stripe — payment processing. Stripe is PCI DSS Level 1 certified. We share billing address and enrollment details with Stripe to process payments. CKQ never sees or stores full card numbers.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS S3) — file storage for lesson materials, PGN files, and profile photos.
• Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) — transactional and marketing email. We share your name and email address to send class confirmations, reminders, and newsletters.
• Google Analytics (GA4) — anonymized website analytics. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect aggregated data about how visitors use our site. We have enabled IP anonymization. No personally identifiable information is shared with Google Analytics.
• Ably — real-time communications infrastructure for our live class features (liveboard).
• Vimeo — video hosting for lesson content. When you watch a lesson video, Vimeo may set cookies per its own privacy policy.

We do not sell personal information to any third party. We do not share personal information with advertisers.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. If you close your account or request deletion, we will delete or anonymize personal information within 90 days, unless we are required to retain it by law (for example, payment records for tax purposes, which we retain for 7 years).

You may request deletion of your account and associated data at any time by emailing admin@chesskq.com. Deleting your account will terminate access to all programs and cannot be undone.

7. Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal information, including:

• HTTPS encryption on all web traffic
• JWT-based authentication with secure cookies
• Data encrypted at rest on AWS infrastructure
• Password hashing (we never store plain-text passwords)
• Access controls limiting who on our team can access personal data

No system is completely secure. In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify affected users as required by applicable law.

8. California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) may give you additional rights:

• Right to Know — request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you
• Right to Delete — request deletion of your personal information (subject to certain exceptions)
• Right to Correct — request correction of inaccurate personal information
• Right to Opt Out of Sale — we do not sell personal information, so this right does not apply
• Right to Non-Discrimination — we will not discriminate against you for exercising any CCPA rights

To submit a CCPA request, email admin@chesskq.com with the subject line "California Privacy Request." We will respond within 45 days.

9. Cookies

We use cookies for authentication and analytics. For full details on what cookies we set and how to manage them, see our Cookie Policy.

10. Your Rights & Choices

• Access & correction — log in to your account to update your profile information at any time
• Newsletter — unsubscribe using the link in any email we send you
• Data deletion — email admin@chesskq.com to request account deletion
• COPPA parental rights — see Section 3 above

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email at least 30 days before the changes take effect. The effective date at the top of this page will always reflect the most recent version. Continued use of our services after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

For privacy questions, data requests, or COPPA parental rights inquiries, contact us at:

Kings and Queens Chess Academy LLC
Email: admin@chesskq.com
Website: chesskq.com