Beyond the Board teaches chess to children in live online classes. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, where it is kept, for how long, and the rights you have. We have written it for parents and guardians; if your child reads it with you, the short version is: we only keep what we need to teach, we never sell it, and you can ask us to delete it.
Who we are
Beyond the Board is run by Coach Aniket Singh in India, who is the data controller (the “data fiduciary” under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act). Contact for anything in this policy: beyondtheboardchess1@gmail.com.
What we collect, and why
When you book a free demo
- Your name and email address, so the Coach can reply.
- Your child’s age band (for example 9–10) and chess level, so the demo starts at the right place.
- Your country or time zone, the times that suit you and any message you add, to arrange the class.
- The time you confirmed you are the parent or guardian and agreed to this policy.
We do not ask for your child’s name on this form, and we do not keep your IP address with it.
When your child takes classes
- A login created by the Coach (children cannot sign themselves up): a username, a display name and a password, which is stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form by our sign-in provider.
- The class record: the class schedule, which classes took place and whether your child joined (attendance), the lesson outcome, the fee agreed for each lesson, and the Coach’s own teaching notes.
- The device’s time zone when your child signs in, so class times can be arranged in your local time.
- In live classes: the moves on the shared board, puzzle and challenge answers, and class chat messages are saved with the class. Video and sound go directly between the Coach’s and your child’s devices (or through an encrypted relay when a direct connection is not possible) and are not recorded. Background blur, if used, runs entirely on your own device.
- Practice: answers to puzzles set by the Coach, and games analysed on the analysis board (the analysis runs on your own device).
- Chess.com games: if you ask the Coach to link your child’s chess.com username, we read that account’s public games from chess.com and keep them, with their reviews, for 60 days.
When anyone visits the site
- Cookies that the site needs to work, and nothing else: sign-in cookies, and small preference cookies (theme and sidebar). We use no advertising or analytics cookies and no tracking pixels, so we do not ask for cookie consent.
- Error reports: when something breaks, a technical report (the error, the page, the browser) is sent to our error-monitoring service. It is set up to exclude names, IP addresses, cookies and anything typed.
- Our hosting provider keeps short-lived technical logs of requests (such as the page asked for) for security.
Our legal reasons (UK and EU GDPR)
- Contract: to teach the classes you asked for and run your child’s account.
- Consent: to reply to a demo request; you can withdraw it at any time.
- Legitimate interests: keeping the site secure and working (sign-in limits, error reports, backups).
- Legal obligation: where a law requires us to keep or share something.
Children’s privacy and parental consent
Our classes are for children, so we take extra care. A parent or guardian books the demo and agrees to this policy; a child’s login is only created by the Coach after a parent has asked for classes. For a child under 13 in the United States (COPPA), or under the age of digital consent where you live (13 in the UK, 13–16 in EU countries, 18 in India under the DPDP Act), the Coach obtains the parent’s or guardian’s consent directly before the login is created. We collect only what teaching needs; we never show advertising, never track children across other sites or apps, never build profiles for marketing, and never sell or rent personal information.
Who helps us (our processors)
| Service | What it does for us | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database and sign-in: accounts, class records, demo requests | Mumbai, India |
| Vercel | Hosts the website; its server functions run in Mumbai | India, with a global network |
| Cloudflare | Delivers the homepage’s film and pictures, and relays class video and sound when a direct connection is not possible (encrypted) | Global network |
| Sentry | Error reports, without names, IP addresses or typed content | European Union |
| GitHub | Stores encrypted database backups (readable only with our key) | United States |
| chess.com | Only if a username is linked: we read that account’s public games | United States |
Some of these services are outside your country. Where UK or EU law applies, transfers rely on the safeguards those laws allow, such as the standard contractual clauses in these providers’ data processing terms.
How long we keep it
- Demo requests: kept while the Coach arranges the demo class; if no classes follow, deleted once they are no longer needed, or as soon as you ask.
- A student’s login and class records: while classes continue, and afterwards only as long as they are needed (for example to answer questions about past lessons or fees). You can ask us to delete them at any time.
- Chess.com games and their reviews: 60 days.
- Encrypted backups: 35 days.
- Error reports: up to 90 days. Hosting logs: a few days at most.
Your rights
You can ask to see the information we hold about you or your child, to correct it, to delete it, to receive a copy, or to stop or limit how we use it; and you can withdraw consent at any time. Parents of children under 13 in the United States can review their child’s information, have it deleted, and refuse further collection. In India you may also nominate someone to exercise these rights for you. Write to the contact above; we will answer within one month (sooner where a law requires).
If you are not satisfied, you can complain to your data protection authority: in the UK the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk), in the EU your national authority, in India the Data Protection Board of India, and in the United States the Federal Trade Commission.
Keeping it safe
Everything travels encrypted (HTTPS). Only the Coach can see students’ records; each child can see only their own. Passwords are hashed, sign-in attempts are limited, and backups are encrypted. If a breach ever put your information at risk, we would tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date above, and tell families by email about any important change before it applies. See also our Terms.