These terms govern your use of the King Gambit website and services (kinggambit.com). By creating an account, entering a tournament, or playing the Stockfish Challenge, you agree to the terms below.
A King Gambit account is personal and must be created in your own name. One person may hold only one account.
You may not play using someone else's account, lend your account to anyone, or let anyone else play through your account — in casual games, tournaments, or the Stockfish Challenge.
Everything that happens on an account is the responsibility of its owner, including recorded results and rating.
The legal name on your profile must be accurate, because it is used for certificates and for paying out prizes. It can only be changed by an admin, with proof of identity.
One account may be used from at most two personal devices. A device belongs to a single account — a device already linked to another account cannot be used to sign in to yours.
The email address on your account must be verified. Since 30 August 2026, an account whose email is not verified cannot sign in; the verification link can be resent from the sign-in page. This verification is what lets your account be recovered if you forget your password, and what stops one person holding many accounts.
If a device is lost, breaks, or is replaced, you can ask an admin to swap it. Swaps are limited to three over the life of the account, with at least seven days between requests.
While playing, you may not use a chess engine, an opening database, or help from another person, except through features provided for that purpose (such as analysis after a game has finished, or playing against the computer).
You may not arrange results, lose deliberately to lower your rating, or use more than one account to influence a tournament or improve your chances of winning a prize.
We run automated checks comparing moves against engine choices, and against think-time patterns. Those checks are never a decision in themselves: the most the system can do is open a review, and what follows is an admin looking at the games.
Those checks run on every game played on our server — tournaments, games against people, rated bot games, and the Stockfish Challenge alike. Only critical positions are counted: positions where the best move and the best alternative were close enough that you genuinely had to choose. Forced moves and obvious ones are not counted, because every player finds those.
If one game passes the threshold, you are told so in the app. The first notice is a warning only: nothing about your account changes, your rating moves as normal, every tournament stays open to you, and no other player can see it.
If a second game passes the same threshold, a recording requirement applies: every tournament you enter and every Stockfish Challenge attempt must be recorded, and any prize you win — a tournament prize or the Stockfish Challenge prize — is held until an admin has reviewed that recording. Your account is not frozen and you are not barred from any tournament, prize events included — your rating keeps moving too. The requirement is lifted once the review is done, and you may raise an objection through the Contact page at any time.
We do not publish the threshold figures. The reason is simple: a player who knows the exact limit knows exactly how close to stay beneath it.
The accuracy figure shown after a game is not an engine detector and is never evidence. High accuracy is ordinary in simple games, and low accuracy is not a defence. We publish the full explanation, with the platform's own distribution, on the Accuracy page.
The Engine Detection tool you can run yourself — pasting a PGN from King Gambit or any other platform — is a study aid, not an accusation tool. Nothing it reports is ever grounds for action against anybody's account, including your own. Note that even a full-strength chess engine scores only about 64% on the same measurement, so a high figure is not proof that an engine was used.
Each tournament has its own rules, shown before it starts. By confirming your attendance you confirm that you have read and accepted them.
Tournaments may be run by King Gambit or by third-party organisers. For third-party events, responsibility for running the event and paying prizes rests with that organiser; King Gambit provides the platform and holds prize funds for the applicable period as a protection for participants.
Entry fees, participant limits, and withdrawal terms follow each tournament's own settings as shown on its page.
For winners, what is announced publicly follows the publicity consent you give when confirming attendance.
A rating-restricted tournament may only be entered by players whose rating in that category is already established, or who have verified a rating or a title. A new account's rating makes no claim about strength yet, so it cannot be the basis for entering a restricted section.
For online tournaments, attendance confirmation opens 5 minutes before the start time and closes the moment the first round is paired. There is no late entry. A player who does not press the attendance button within that window is not paired in any round, and where the tournament charges an entry fee, that fee is not refunded, in line with the tournament rules.
A player who makes no move at all in a round is not paired in the next one until they press the attendance button again on the tournament page.
A new account starts on an unmeasured default rating, marked as not yet established until you have played enough games. The marker is not a judgement of your ability — it means only that we do not have enough data to be sure of it.
You can verify a chess.com, lichess, or FIDE rating, and submit a FIDE or PERCASI title you hold, from the Profile page. Submissions are reviewed by an admin against the evidence you attach.
A verified title is shown on your profile with a verification mark, and an admin may set a rating floor matching that title, so that a titled player is not displayed at a starting rating that plainly misrepresents their strength.
Verifying a rating or a title is voluntary. What follows from it is set out elsewhere on this page: rating-restricted tournaments require known strength, and certain prize payouts wait for the same thing.
The Stockfish Challenge may be attempted at most three times per day per account.
The cash prize applies once per account, and is paid only to the owner of the winning account.
Every win is reviewed by an admin before payment. During that review we may ask for further evidence, including a video recording of the game or a supervised rematch.
Every attempt is checked for how closely its moves match a chess engine, and an attempt that passes the threshold is recorded against your account as described under Fair play. The threshold for the Stockfish Challenge differs from the one used for ordinary games, because the measurement itself differs.
If your account currently carries a recording requirement, a Stockfish Challenge attempt must also be recorded, and the link is asked for when you submit your prize claim. The requirement is shown on the Stockfish Challenge page before you start an attempt — a recording cannot be made once the game is over. The prize remains yours; only the payout waits, until an admin has reviewed the recording.
King Gambit may decline to recognise a win and withhold the prize where these terms have been broken, including where an account belonging to someone else was used, or where engine assistance was used.
Cash prizes are transferred only to a bank account in the name of the account owner entitled to the prize. The account holder name must match the legal name recorded on that profile.
We cannot process a payout to an account in someone else's name.
Token purchases and tournament entry fees are final once payment succeeds, unless the tournament is cancelled by its organiser.
Transfers to a BCA account carry no fee. Transfers to any other bank carry a Rp2,500 transfer fee, deducted from the prize. BCA Digital (blu) is a different bank from BCA, so transfers there are still charged. The net amount you will receive is shown before you submit your account details.
If your rating was not yet established when you registered and your performance in that tournament far exceeded it, the payout is held until your playing strength can be confirmed. This is not an accusation of cheating and is not recorded as a breach. The prize is released automatically once your rating becomes established through ordinary play, or once you verify a rating or a title; an admin also reviews these periodically.
Prizes from tournaments organised by King Gambit are transferred within 2x24 hours of the claim being accepted and any applicable checks completing. That is a service promise, not a countdown running in the app.
In prize tournaments organised by King Gambit, a prize winner whose accuracy exceeds a set threshold across most of the rounds may be asked to demonstrate their play in a verification duel. Clearing that threshold is not a finding and not an accusation: most of the accounts it picks out have done nothing wrong, and nothing is recorded against the account.
Only a fellow participant in that tournament may issue a challenge, within 24 hours of the tournament finishing. A tournament can have only one duel running at a time, and a prize can be challenged only once. If nobody challenges by then, the prize is paid out as normal.
That 24-hour waiting period applies only to tournaments in which some prize winner cleared the threshold. If nobody does, every prize is processed as usual with no waiting period at all.
During that waiting period, and for as long as a challenge is running, every prize in that tournament is held — not only the prize being challenged. The hold is what keeps it possible for a prize to move down the standings if the challenge ends unresolved.
Duels are played on King Gambit as three blitz 5+0 games with alternating colours, and are not rated. Both players must submit two recordings: one of the room, showing that the player is alone and is not wearing an earphone, a headset or a hearing aid, running for the length of the duel; and one of the screen with both hands, unbroken from the first game to the last. The obligation falls on both sides, not only the player challenged, because the prize follows whoever wins the duel.
Submitting a link does not by itself make a recording valid. An admin reviews the recordings first, and a prize is released only to a side whose recordings have been approved. If they are refused, the reason is given to the player, who may still submit corrected recordings before the deadline.
The challenge as a whole — the games played and both recordings submitted — must be finished within 3x24 hours of the tournament ending. If by then neither side has recordings that are complete and approved, the prize goes to neither of them and moves down to the next finisher in the standings. Where recordings were submitted complete and on time but the review is not yet finished, the prize stays held until that review is decided, and the delay does not count against the player.
The challenger offers three times, all within 72 hours, and the champion must answer within 24 hours. If none of the three can be made, the champion does not have to decline: they may propose three times of their own. The challenger then picks one or proposes a final three, and the champion picks from those. The offer may change hands twice, and each counter-offer must be answered within 12 hours. Once there is no longer enough time before the settlement deadline for another round, the option to propose times is no longer available.
Whoever takes none of the times in the last offer is the side that bears the consequence: if the champion refuses or does not answer, the prize moves down to the next finisher in the standings; if the challenger refuses or does not answer, the challenge ends and the champion's prize is paid in full.
What each outcome means: the champion wins or draws, and keeps the prize; the champion loses, and the prize moves to the challenger, with no quarantine, no ban, and nothing recorded as a breach; the champion declines or does not answer by the deadline, and the prize moves down to the next finisher in the standings while the challenger receives nothing; the challenger refuses every time the champion offers or does not answer by their own deadline, and the challenge ends with the champion paid in full; the champion accepts and then does not appear, and half the prize goes to the challenger for the time they set aside while the rest goes into the next tournament's prize pot; a challenger who does not appear voids their own challenge, and the champion is paid in full.
Attendance is recorded by the system when each player opens the duel board, within 15 minutes of the chosen slot. That timestamp is the only basis on which attendance is judged.
Duel results are public: both players' names, the score, the date, and where the prize went are shown on the tournament page along with the game notation. The video recordings are visible only to the two players and to admins.
Standings, final ranks and certificates are not altered by a duel result. Only the prize payment moves.
Coming through a duel confers no immunity. In the next tournament, if your accuracy again clears the threshold, your prize can be challenged again.
An admin may reverse a duel result after reviewing the recordings — for instance where a recording does not show what was required. The reason is given to both players.
Where a breach is suspected, King Gambit may withhold a prize payment while the review is underway.
Where a breach is established, King Gambit may void the result or the win, adjust or remove rating, cancel the prize, and suspend or close the account concerned.
Before deciding, we will notify the account owner and give them an opportunity to respond.
While a review is underway, an account may be placed in quarantine. Quarantine stops three things: entering anything that carries a prize, rating movement, and payouts. You can still sign in, play against other people and against the computer, and see your whole history. Quarantine is not shown on your profile and cannot be seen by other players.
Quarantine is not a punishment and not a finding of guilt. There are two distinct reasons for it and they must never be conflated: first, that your playing strength cannot yet be confirmed — this is not an accusation of cheating, and it ends by itself once you verify a rating or title or your rating becomes established; second, that particular games are under review — that one can only be ended by an admin after looking at those games. You are always told which one applies to your account.
Where suspected engine use is reported by a number of different players, a prize claim from that account must include a video recording of the player at the following tournament, with hands and screen visible, and is paid after an admin has reviewed it. A number of reports is a reason to look, never proof of guilt.
An admin may grant a quarantined account special permission to keep entering prize tournaments. It is granted case by case, never automatically, and it runs on the condition that every tournament entered is recorded with the two recordings set out in section 7. Those terms are shown and must be accepted every time you register, and a prize you win can only be paid once both recordings have been received and reviewed. The permission ends by itself when the review of your account finishes or a new review is opened.
Where a prize is held because your account is quarantined under suspicion of engine use, you have 24 hours to send a link to video of yourself playing, and an admin reads it. Accepted, the hold is lifted. Refused, or nothing sent by the deadline, and the prize moves down to the next finisher in the standings who is not themselves flagged. This does not apply to a quarantine opened because your playing strength could not yet be confirmed — on that track no deadline runs against your prize at all.
A banned account can still sign in and read why it was banned, because the account owner is the person who has to be able to appeal. Each ban may be appealed once. While banned, every action that changes data is refused.
After an account is banned, the WhatsApp number, email address, IP address, and devices linked to it may be refused when registering a new account. Because IP addresses and some device characteristics are shared by unrelated people — one household, one office, one mobile network — an automatic refusal is not applied to an identifier that demonstrably belongs to several healthy accounts.
A video call happens only between the two players of a game in progress, and only once both of them have pressed agree. That agreement covers one game; the next game asks again. Either player may mute their microphone, switch off their camera, or end the call at any time — and none of that affects the board, the clocks or the result.
The call's sound and picture travel directly between the two browsers. Nothing in them passes through King Gambit's server, and we keep no recording of any kind, including for the purpose of handling a report. You should know what follows from that: if something happens during a call, there is no recording for us to open. A report about what was said or shown in a call can only be reviewed from both people's accounts of it, and what we are able to do is limited to what those accounts allow us to conclude. What is always in your own hands is ending the call on the spot, at any moment, without affecting the game. We still choose to keep no recording, because storing players' faces and voices creates a larger risk than the one it would solve.
Showing anything indecent, threatening or abusive over a camera breaks these terms. A report button sits in the video call panel and on every profile page, and every report is reviewed by a person. King Gambit may switch the video feature off for one account, or for the whole site, when that is needed.
Broadcast mode lets a player stream their own game to their own channel. The board, the moves, the clocks and both players' names are public from the first move — anyone may watch a game in progress and download its notation once it is over. A broadcast therefore does not require the opponent's permission. They are told about it all the same, along with who is streaming.
What does require permission is the opponent's face. A player's face may appear in a broadcast only if they allow it, that permission may be withdrawn at any moment, and not answering means no. Putting somebody's face in a broadcast without their permission — including by capturing a screen that contains the call window — breaks these terms.
King Gambit runs no streaming server and sends video to no platform. The channel, the content of the broadcast, and meeting that platform's own requirements are entirely the streaming player's responsibility.
We also store the IP address and device characteristics you sign in from. Both are used for two things only: enforcing the two-device limit, and linking accounts used by the same person where a breach is suspected. Neither is ever shown to other players.
What we store: your username, email address, and password (kept encrypted, never in its original form); your profile picture, display name, and nationality if you provide them; your legal name, used for certificates and prize payouts; your WhatsApp number; your full game history, rating, and game notation; your payment and token purchase history; and your bank details if you submit a prize claim.
What is public and visible to anyone: your username, display name, profile picture, country flag, rating, achievements, and the notation of your finished games — all shown on your public profile. Tournament standings and results are public too. Your legal name, email, WhatsApp number, and bank details are never shown on any public page.
A winner's legal name and WhatsApp number are announced to the King Gambit WhatsApp groups only where you gave publicity consent at tournament check-in. Without that consent, only your username is announced.
Others who process this data: Midtrans, our payment provider, for payment transactions (card and payment account details are handled by them, not stored by us); Google, if you sign in with a Google account or through page-visit analytics; and email services used to deliver notifications. For third-party tournaments, the organiser can see their own participants' registration details. We do not sell personal data to anyone.
We do not currently send notifications over WhatsApp. Your WhatsApp number is held so that organisers and admins can reach you when needed, and the King Gambit number only replies to messages you send first and posts in groups. You can remove your number from your profile at any time. Official notifications are sent in the app and by email. Bank details are used only to make the prize transfer.
You can deactivate your account temporarily — it is hidden and comes back when you log in again — or delete it permanently from your profile page, both confirmed with your password. Permanent deletion removes your username, email, legal name, profile picture, WhatsApp number, nationality, token and point transaction history, and your Stockfish Challenge attempts. Game history and tournament results remain without your identity attached, because those results are also a record belonging to your opponents and to other participants. Records of prize payments already made are kept as financial records.
We may update these terms — for instance when a feature is added, prize mechanics change, or fair-play rules are adjusted.
King Gambit may change these terms at any time in the interest of the community, including to close a loophole being exploited, and a change takes effect when it is published on this page. For changes affecting prizes, payments, or sanctions we aim to post a notice in the app, but a change does not depend on that notice to be effective.
The effective date at the top of this page always identifies the version currently in force. By continuing to use the service after that date, you accept the current version.
Changes apply going forward only, and are never applied retroactively to games, tournaments, or prize claims that already took place before the effective date.
If you do not agree with a change, you may stop using the service and close your account at any time from your profile page.
Questions about these terms can be sent to admin@kinggambit.com.