Fair-play rules

How we look for cheating

After each game, a chess engine looks at every move. We measure how often your moves match the engine's, over all moves and on the moments that decided the game.

We also compare your think times with how hard each position was, and estimate the strength you played at.

We store every move of every game with its think time and both clocks, from the first game on. Later we can compare your play with your own history.

One unusual game proves nothing. Evidence builds up only when play stays above what is normal at your level, game after game, and it fades again with normal play.

We keep it per stake as well as overall, so clean games at a low stake cannot hide play at a higher one.

Evidence has a hold line and a much higher close line. Both move by up to 10% for each account every 30 days, so nobody can play up to a published number.

Losses played far below your own level build up on a track of their own. Losing on purpose to pass money on is cheating too.

Every 7 days we look again at your games of the last 30 days, at each stake, as one block. This catches light help that single games miss.

Before winnings leave, the same check runs more strictly over the last 30 days.

Money rules: Withdrawals

If you play 300 points or more above your rating, over at least 8 analysed games, a review opens. You also get a face check before your next cash game.

This applies only after 50 games with a firm rating, an uncertainty of 100 or less, so new players can still find their level.

If you play clearly stronger at a higher stake than at a lower one, a review opens. We compare up to 100 games at each stake, with at least 10 at each.

If you are paired with the same player again and again after joining the queue within 2 seconds of each other, a review opens for both of you.

Each month we review 1% of the accounts that won money at $20 and $50, whatever their evidence.

During a game, your browser tells us when the game page is hidden or loses focus, and when a game is open in more than one tab. These signals only add to the evidence.

Each receipt shows a fair-play label for both players: "Clear", "Marked for a closer look" or "Flagged". A label is about one game, not about the player.

Right after a game the receipt says "Fair-play check running". The labels follow within minutes.

For the first weeks of the beta, evidence only raises flags for our reviewers. It holds nobody. Face checks and the device rules still apply, and rescans and audits still run.

Turning shadow mode off takes two people.

Reviews and decisions

When evidence reaches the hold line, or another rule opens a review, withdrawals pause and your stakes are capped at $5.

You see one neutral notice: that your account is under a standard fair-play review, and the date we expect to finish by.

Reviewers see your games, the evidence and its timeline. They do not see your name, your country or your balance.

Clearing a hold takes one reviewer. Closing an account takes two reviewers who agree, each writing down a reason.

A failed face check, a device flag or a money flow never closes an account by itself. Each only opens a review.

We tell you, we say sorry for the wait, and your next few games are rake-free.

The player gets the reasons: which games, and what kind of evidence. We do not give the exact lines, so nobody can tune play to them.

The balance of a closed account pays back the players it beat. If anything is left, the deposits it did not withdraw go back to its payment method.

A closed player can appeal. Two people who did not take the first decision look at every appeal.

If they reverse the closure, the account opens again with its balance. Refunds already paid to the players it beat are not taken back: the reserve carries them.

An outside appeal panel, a titled player and a statistician, is planned for when the highest stakes open.

Money flows and linked accounts

We record every settled game as money from the loser to the winner.

Two players are reviewed when at least $100 flows 90% or more one way, over 3 games or more in 30 days, and the losses look thrown.

When a player is held for throwing games, whoever received their money that way is reviewed too. Loops of money, and accounts that pass on what they win, also open reviews.

Accounts that share a device or a payment method are linked at once. A shared network links accounts only when their playing styles match.

Linked accounts are never paired, share the lowest stake limit among them, and are closed together. A new account linked to a closed one is closed at sign-up.

Every player verifies their identity before the first cash game, with a photo ID and a selfie that our verification partner checks. One account per person.

Devices

Cash games run only on your registered devices, 2 at most. The first one is registered when you verify your identity.

On the web, a registered device is a passkey on that device. It also signs you in and confirms your withdrawals.

Adding or replacing a device needs a face check on the new device. Withdrawals then pause for 48 hours.

More than 2 changes in 90 days open a review.

A new computer you approve from your registered phone still needs the face check, but it does not pause withdrawals or count as a change.

This comes with our phone apps.

If two of your registered devices are used more than 100 km apart within 30 minutes, a review opens.

A device registered to two accounts links them.

Fair-play rules: Linked accounts

Face checks

A face check is a short selfie with a liveness test. Our verification partner compares it with the selfie from your sign-up.

We check at every withdrawal and when you register a device. We also check before your next cash game after you play from a new country or after a jump in your strength.

We also check at random between games, in 50% of cash sessions at every stake. The camera is never on during a game.

Trust: Face data

You have 5 minutes to answer. No answer counts as a failed check.

A check that does not work can be tried again once. No cash game starts while a check is open.

A failed check pauses cash play until a check passes. You can start a new check from the lobby at any time. A failed check never closes an account by itself.

It counts as a strike for 30 days. For the next 30 days, every session is checked and winnings wait 14 days.

2 strikes within 30 days open a review. So does the first, if your games since the last passed check were played far above your earlier level.

Reports

After a game you can press "Report this game". A report never holds or closes anyone.

It moves your opponent's recent games to the front of our analysis and rescan queue.

The fair-play guarantee

If we close an account for cheating, every stake you lost to it is back in your balance, in full. If the cheater's money is gone, we pay.

It covers cheating that we catch and close an account for. We cannot pay back cheating that is never caught.

When we close an account for cheating, its whole balance is frozen. It pays back the players it beat, newest game first, through every game it ever won, until it runs out.

Where its money does not reach, we pay: from the fair-play reserve first, then from the company.

We cover every game it won since 14 days before the first sign of cheating, and never less than a set minimum period.

Refunds from the closed account's own money go out at once. So do refunds with our money for your first few games against it.

For more games than that, a person looks at the two accounts first, within the review deadline.

If anything is left after every victim is paid, the closed player gets back the deposits they did not withdraw. Everything else goes to the reserve.

Forfeited money is only ever paid to players.

The rake we took on refunded games goes to the reserve. We never earn from a closure.

Every refund is a public record, with the date the evidence began.

You get a message that says how many games you lost to the closed account, and how much is back in your balance.

Trust: A public game log

If a closure is reversed on appeal, refunds already paid are not taken back. The reserve carries them.

In the beta, a few labelled accounts are played by strong players we hire, who cheat in known ways. They test our checks on real games.

If you lose to one, we refund your stake at the end of the day and tell you. These accounts never withdraw, and their games do not change your rating.

Trust: No house players