Crown Wake Chess · product notice

Fair-play policy

How Crown Wake Chess keeps human games honest. Part of the Terms of service. Read with the Privacy policy. Written 6 September 2026.

1. Our promise

A rating, a leaderboard place, or a shared replay only means something if the moves were played by the person on the account. We will be proportionate, evidence-led, and quiet about unproven accusations.

• Proportionate. Casual local play is not watched like a prize final. There are no prize finals in this copy of the game.
• Evidence-led. A short run of strong moves is not, by itself, a ban. Statistics may flag a case. A person reviews before a serious sanction, except for clear-cut automation or ban evasion.
• Fair process. Where we reasonably can, you will hear the concern and can reply before a lasting ban.
• Transparent data use. What we collect for integrity is described here and in the Privacy policy.

By using the game you agree to this policy.

2. What counts as cheating

Cheating is any attempt to gain an unfair edge, or to corrupt ratings, reports, or results. It includes:

• Outside help in a human game. A chess engine, tablebase, coach on the shoulder, or any tool that chooses or scores moves while you are playing a person. This does not include the labelled computer opponent or post-game analysis in the app.
• Extra accounts. Smurfing, ban evasion, or farming a rating with a second login.
• Sandbagging. Losing or playing down on purpose to fix matchmaking or a bracket.
• Collusion. Arranging a result, feeding rating, or coordinating a tournament path.
• Account sharing on rated or competitive games.
• False reports or exploiting a bug for an edge instead of telling us.
• Clock or disconnect tricks meant to steal a point.

The list is not closed. Conduct that defeats fair competition can be treated as cheating even if the wording above does not name it.

3. Local play and the computer

On this device you may play the computer, take puzzles, and use study tools that the game itself provides. Those modes are labelled in the client. Using them against the computer is the point of those modes.

Using those same tools, or any other engine, during a live game against a human is cheating.

A spectator board or replay with no game loaded is an empty screen, not a hidden match. Do not treat an empty spectator page as proof that someone is online.

4. Online and rated play

When the hosted service is available and you play other people:

• Moves, results, and clocks for ranked and official games are stored server-side and are not yours to edit on the device.
• We may keep a per-move timing record. Strength signals (how close a move is to an engine line, how even the think times are) can trip a review. A flag is a flag, not an automatic void.
• Ranked play may require a confirmed email and a minimum account age. That is to raise the cost of throwaway engine accounts.
• You may file a fair-play report from the game, with a reason and an optional short note. Reports are a signal. They are not a verdict. Do not weaponise them.

If the service is not connected, the game will not invent a live opponent or a live rating change.

5. Reports and review

A case can start from a report, a statistical flag, or something we notice ourselves.

A person reviews the picture as a whole: sample size, your usual strength, other evidence. We may pause ranked access while we look. We will not auto-void a single odd game on statistics alone.

Except where the abuse is mechanically obvious, or notice would let someone wipe evidence or keep harming others, we will tell you the concern and give a chance to reply before a lasting ban.

Appeals: write to the contact published in the Terms once that address exists. Until then, a published inbox is not listed, so we will not pretend there is one.

6. What we may do

If we conclude this policy was broken, we may, in proportion to the harm:

• Warn you.
• Correct or reset a rating and remove a leaderboard line.
• Void affected results.
• Remove you from a tournament (tournaments, when run, are free play for glory unless a later event says otherwise).
• Suspend some or all features.
• Close the account and refuse new ones for serious or repeated breach.

Your statutory consumer and data-protection rights still apply.

7. Money features (not live)

There is no paid prize, no entry fee, and no payout in this copy of the game. Identity verification and webcam or screen recording are not used.

If those features are ever introduced they will have their own rules, will be 18 or over only, and will not rest a money decision on a short statistical sample alone. Until that update is published, treat every money paragraph on older drafts as inactive.

8. Fair-play data

Integrity work is personal-data processing. It follows the Privacy policy and UK GDPR.

For current play that may mean account ids, eligibility, game records, move times, report text, chat that sits inside a report, and ordinary server logs (IP address and user agent) held by hosting. We do not collect webcam footage.

The usual lawful bases are legitimate interests in a fair game, and contract if you use a paid product later. You keep your UK GDPR rights, subject to our need to keep some records to investigate abuse.

9. No public shaming

We will not publish a cheater list or name a player in public on weak or statistical-only evidence. Sanctions are told to the player, not to the lobby. We may publish anonymous totals (how many accounts were actioned in a period). We may moderate public accusations in chat, which can be unfair and defamatory.

That does not stop us acting privately on the evidence we have.