Privacy policy
Last updated 10 August 2026.
The short version: you can read every page on this site without an account, and nothing you do here is sold, shared with advertisers, or used to build a profile of you. There are no advertising trackers on any page.
Who runs this site
The Opening Club is published by Ground Plane Studio, LLC, of San Francisco, California, which is the data controller for anything described here. For any request under this policy, including asking what we hold about you or asking us to delete it, write to hello@theopeningclub.com and we will answer within 30 days.
What is stored in your browser
One thing. Your selected rating band is kept in your browser under the key toc-band, so the site shows the right figures when you come back. It is stored with localStorage rather than a cookie, it never leaves your device, and it is not readable by us. Clearing your browser data removes it.
The site sets no cookies of its own. Because of that, and because there is nothing to consent to, there is no cookie banner.
Server logs
The site is hosted by Vercel. Like any web host, Vercel records standard request logs, which include your IP address, the page requested, the time, and your browser's user agent string. These exist to keep the site up and to stop abuse. We do not use them to identify readers and we do not combine them with anything else. Vercel retains them under its own policy.
Analytics
The site uses Vercel Web Analytics, which counts page views and visits so we can see which pages are read. It is cookieless: it sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device, which is why there is still no cookie banner on this site. It does not build a profile of you, does not follow you to other sites, and we cannot use it to identify an individual reader. Vercel processes that data on our behalf under its own privacy terms.
The site is also verified with Google Search Console, which reports the search queries that led people here and how pages rank. Search Console shows us aggregate query and click counts from Google's own records; it is not a script on this site and it collects nothing from your visit.
There is no mailing list yet. When one opens, it will be opt-in only: you type your address into a form, and nothing is added without that. It will be used for the newsletter it was collected for and nothing else, never sold or rented, and every message will carry an unsubscribe link that works immediately. Addresses will be stored with our email provider and our database host, both listed below.
Affiliate links
Some outbound links to chess retailers and services are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you buy something after clicking one. Those links carry a plain tracking parameter in the URL so the merchant can attribute the visit. We do not receive your name, your email, or your payment details from them, only aggregate reports of how many purchases happened. The destination site sets its own cookies under its own privacy policy, which is worth reading before you buy. See the affiliate disclosure for which partners these are and how it affects what we publish, which is: not at all.
Who we share data with
Nobody, in the sense of selling or trading it. We do rely on service providers who process data on our behalf:
- Vercel, hosting and server logs.
- Supabase, the database holding the chess statistics and, once the list opens, newsletter addresses.
- Resend, email delivery, once the newsletter opens.
- Vercel Web Analytics, cookieless page view counts.
We will also disclose information if the law genuinely requires it, and we will say so publicly where we are permitted to.
Your rights
California residents have rights under the CCPA and CPRA, and readers in the UK and EU have equivalent rights under the UK GDPR and GDPR: to ask what we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, and to object to its processing. Because the site collects almost nothing, the honest answer to most such requests is that we hold nothing beyond the server logs described above, and any newsletter address you gave us. We have never sold or shared personal information, which under California law includes sharing it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not intend to. Email hello@theopeningclub.com and we will confirm either way.
Children
Plenty of chess improvers are under 13. The site is safe for them to read, because it collects nothing from readers. We do not knowingly accept newsletter signups from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us an address, tell us and we will delete it.
Where the chess data comes from
Every statistic here is computed from the Lichess open database, which is published under CC0 and contains no information about you unless you happen to have played one of the games in it. Lichess anonymises nothing on our behalf and we add nothing to it. See the method for how the numbers are produced.
Changes
If this policy changes materially, the date at the top changes with it and the change is described here rather than made quietly.