Terms of Service

Last updated 5 October 2026

These terms concisely cover a club’s use of BillyChess. There is a separate privacy notice, for what we store about the club’s members, and this page is about the arrangement between the club and us.

Who this is between

BillyChess is run by Martin Lambert in the UK. “We”, “us” and “our” mean him. “The club” means the club using BillyChess, acting through whoever set it up — these terms are an agreement with the club, not with its individual members.

Whoever creates the club confirms they are entitled to act for it. Anyone who is not should ask the person who runs the club to agree these terms instead.

What BillyChess does

BillyChess runs the club’s ladder and its teams: challenges and results, club-session check-in, availability, team selection and fixtures. It is a focused application — it does not take payments, book rooms, or contact the club’s members — it sends no notifications at all.

Subscription

BillyChess is a paid service, billed to the club once a year. The fee is stated on the club’s invoice and runs for twelve months from the first of the month the subscription starts.

New clubs get a free trial — the length is the one we agree at the start, and nothing is owed until it ends. If the club decides not to continue, it should tell us before the trial ends. We will close the club on BillyChess and send no invoice.

We will tell the club before each renewal and before any change to the fee, in time to decide.

What the club is responsible for

The club decides who is in it, and that carries obligations we cannot meet on its behalf. The club must:

• Only add people who should be there, and only with their agreement.
• Tell members their details are in BillyChess. There is wording to use at the foot of this page, and the privacy notice is written to be read by members directly.
• Decide about junior members. BillyChess does not ask anyone’s age, so whether a young member has an account — and whether a parent or guardian should be asked first — is the club’s call.
• Keep the list current. Remove members who leave.

Data protection

The privacy notice explains what is stored and why. These terms say who is responsible for it.

The club controls its members’ data. The data processing agreement comes first: we send it, and the club accepts it by replying to confirm, before the club is set up on BillyChess. The club is then the data controller for everything about its members — who belongs, positions, results, check-ins, availability and team selection — and we are its processor, acting on the club’s instructions.

We control members’ account data. A BillyChess account belongs to the person rather than to the club: their Google sign-in, name, email, nickname, ECF code and the ratings fetched for it. It is the same account in every club they join, and it is not deleted when the club is closed.

Members’ data requests come to the club first. If a member asks to see, correct or delete what is held about them, that is a request to the club as controller. We will help, and a member who is not satisfied can come to us.

What we promise, and what we do not

We will run BillyChess with reasonable care and skill, keep it available as far as we reasonably can and keep encrypted backups.

We do not promise that it will never be unavailable, never lose a change or never be wrong. Decisions the club makes using it — who is picked, who forfeits, where someone sits on the ladder — are the club’s, not ours.

Liability

BillyChess only manages chess games, but if something goes wrong our liability to the club is limited to the fees it has paid us in the twelve months before it happened.

Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow to be limited.

Termination of service

The club can stop at any time. Tell us and we will close the club on BillyChess at the end of the period already paid for. We do not refund part of a year.

We may suspend the club if it has not paid, or if it is being used to disturb or disrupt members or other clubs — impersonating a club, for example. Suspending means the club cannot be reached on BillyChess; nothing is deleted, and service can be restored. We will say why first wherever it is possible.

Closing the club on BillyChess means its members can no longer reach it, and its ladder, teams, fixtures and results are deleted thirty days later. Ask within those thirty days and we will send a copy first. Nobody loses their BillyChess account — an account belongs to the person rather than the club, so they keep it, and they can still be a member of another club.

Changes

BillyChess changes: features arrive, and sometimes depart. We will not remove something the club depends on without notice.

If these terms change materially, we will say so rather than quietly editing them. The date at the top always reflects the current version.

Wording for members

The club can use this to tell its members what it does with their details, as it is or changed to suit, as long as it stays accurate. A club that already has its own privacy notice can paste it in rather than replace it.

We use BillyChess to run the club’s ladder and teams. It holds your name, your email address, the games you play for the club and, if one is linked, your ECF code. It sends no email. What it stores, and who else sees it, is at billychess.com/privacy. Ask [club contact] if you want to see, correct or remove anything.

The club fills in the last line. Everything else is true of BillyChess as it stands; if that changes we will update this wording and say so.

Law, and getting in touch

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.

We can be reached at martin@billychess.com.