Privacy Policy

This policy explains what information CastleEarly ("we", "this site") collects when you visit castleearly.com and how it is used.

Information we collect

CastleEarly has no user accounts and no sign-up forms. We do not ask for your address or payment details. If you email us, we receive your email address and message and use them only to reply.

Like most websites, our hosting provider and analytics tools automatically record basic technical information such as your browser type, device type, approximate country, the pages you visit, and the time of your visit. This information is used in aggregate to understand which lessons are useful and to keep the site secure.

Feedback and reviews

If you use the feedback form, we store what you send: your message, the name you choose to give (optional), your star rating for a review, and for private feedback the email address you choose to give (optional). We also store a scrambled (hashed) code made from your IP address for one purpose: to limit spam. It cannot be turned back into your IP address.

Private feedback and email addresses are seen only by the site owner and are never published. A review, with the name you typed and your rating, may be published on the feedback page after the owner reads it. The data is stored securely with our hosting provider, Cloudflare. To have your feedback or review removed, email [email protected].

Game analysis and imported games

The game analysis runs entirely in your browser. When you type a Chess.com or Lichess username on our game analysis page, your browser asks Chess.com or Lichess directly for that player's public games through their public APIs. Those services receive the request like any other visit to their sites. CastleEarly does not receive, store or share these games. The last username you typed is remembered only in your own browser (local storage), and you can clear it by clearing your browser's site data.

Your current game against the computer is also saved only in your own browser, so you can continue it later.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device. The interactive boards on CastleEarly do not need cookies to work. Cookies may be set by the advertising and analytics services described below.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

CastleEarly uses Google AdSense to show ads. Google and its partners are third-party vendors that use cookies to serve ads based on your previous visits to this website and other websites.

• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
• You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
• You can also opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalized advertising at www.aboutads.info.
• To learn more about how Google uses data, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland will be asked for consent before personalized ads are shown, through a consent message provided by Google.

Analytics

We may use privacy-focused analytics (such as Cloudflare Web Analytics) to count visits. These tools do not use cookies to track you across other websites.

Affiliate links

Some pages may contain affiliate links to chess books, boards or courses. If you buy through one of these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate links are always clearly labelled.

Children's privacy

CastleEarly is a general-audience educational site. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal information we hold about you. Since we hold almost none, the simplest way to exercise these rights is to contact us.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last changed.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email [email protected].