Terms and Conditions

By registering as a user on SchemingMind.com you are agreeing to the terms and conditions described below.

SchemingMind.com reserves the right to alter this information without notice.

SchemingMind.com reserves the right to cancel the account of any member of the site (without refund for paying members) who violates these conditions.

Provision of Service

SchemingMind.com provides an Internet service, it is the responsibility of each member to provide their own access to the Internet.

SchemingMind.com will attempt to provide a 24 hour service, however will not be held responsible for disruptions to the service. Refunds for paying members will be purely at the discretion of the site administrator in the event of an extended period of unavailability.

SchemingMind.com reserves the right to withdraw the service permanently and without notice or refund for paying members.

The Service

Members may not resell the services of SchemingMind.com without expressed permission.

Accounts

Members of SchemingMind.com may not register more than one account.

Accounts are not transferable.

User Names

All members of SchemingMind are required to register with a user name, the following are prohibited as user names:

• Sexually or racially offensive names
• Names which may be offensive to others for cultural, religious or political reasons
• The name of a living person, if it is not your own name
• Trademarks or brand names
• Names used to advertise or promote other products or services

Any account contravening these requirements will be suspended immediately.

Free Service

SchemingMind is not a free site, a free service is offered to allow people to try the site before subscribing as fully paid members.

The level of access to SchemingMind.com available to free members may be changed from time to time without notice. This may include (but not be limited to) altering the number of simultaneous games allowed, the ability to enter or start tournaments, or the duration of the free trial period.

SchemingMind.com reserves the right to cease or limit the availablilty of the free service without notice.

Minors

SchemingMind is committed to providing a safe and comfortable playing environment to players of all ages. SchemingMind does not offer content specifically targetted at children.

• Any child under the age of eighteen years must inform a parent or legal guardian about their membership of SchemingMind and obtain their permission and an appropriate level of supervision whilst online.
• Any child under the age of eighteen years must provide contact details for their parent or legal guardian if requested to do so by an administrator.
• Any child under the age of thirteen years must ask a parent or legal guardian to contact the site administrator before registering an account.

Special Offers

Special offers may be made available from time to time, offering free periods of membership. SchemingMind.com reserves the right to withdraw these offers at any time without notice.

Unacceptable Behaviour

Abusive and/or offensive behaviour is not permitted.

Advertising other services without the explicit consent of SchemingMind.com is not permitted.

Attempting to gain unauthorised access to SchemingMind.com or interfere with the running of the site is not permitted.

Sportsmanship

All games played on SchemingMind.com should be played in the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play.

Accusations of cheating following a defeat is considered bad sportsmanship and the sign of a 'bad loser'. Persistant accusations in game notes or private messages may result in your account being terminated. If you have undisputable evidence that one of your opponents is cheating then please report this directly and privately to the webmaster, otherwise please keep your suspicions to yourself.

Allowing a game to be lost by default is considered poor sportsmanship, it contaminates the rating pool, it can give unfair advantages in tournaments, and it wastes the time of your opponent. In order to minimise the effects of defaulted games, SchemingMind reserves the right to disable certain features of the site for players who have recently defaulted, temporarily or permanently, and without refund to paying members.

The Rules of Chess

The FIDE Laws of Chess apply to all Standard Chess and Chess960 games played on the site (where appropriate to correspondence chess), with the following additions and exceptions:

1. Take-backs: There are no 'take backs', once a move has been commited to the server, you are obliged to accept this move.
2. Time controls: All games on SchemingMind.com are subject to time controls. Players normally have the right to use as much time as is available to make their moves (with the exceptions listed above, under 'sportsmanship'). For casual games play may continue after one players flag has fallen at the discretion of the other player, however for some tournament and team games the game may be terminated by the server.
3. Use of outside help: Using a computer program to generate chess moves, test candidate moves, or 'blunder check' is prohibited; asking a third person for help or advice is also prohibited. Using reference works, such as books, websites or electronic databases without a move generating function is allowed (with the exception of end game tablebases, which are not allowed). It is possible for third parties to 'kibitz', or enter comments in other players' games; offering direct advice, solicited or unsolicited, to players in these games is prohibited.

Chess variants can also be played on SchemingMind.com, which may differ from the above rules to varying degree. The general principles outlined above apply where appropriate and unless otherwise stated.

ICCF Password

SchemingMind offers an optional facility for users of this website to validate their identity as an ICCF registered correspondence chess player, or to play their games on the ICCF webserver directly from this website. In order to do either of these, you are required to enter your ICCF password on this site. The way in which we use your ICCF password is outlined in our privacy policy; by entering your ICCF password on this site, you agree not to hold SchemingMind responsible for any problems with your account on the ICCF webserver.

Scholarships

Donations to the site are always welcome; the prefered form of donation is by 'scholarship', where periods of full membership are awarded to members meeting certain conditions, these awards are monitored by a Scholarship Committee. Conditions of awards may be set by the contributor, however the following rules apply in all cases:

1. Prizes with cash value (including membership tokens) may not be offered or awarded for individual games or tournaments in chess variants where there is known computer software which is able to play this variant, unless engine use is specifically allowed in the variant rules.  If an award donor wishes to provide an award for computer-aided play of standard chess, the SchemingMind variants Advanced Chess and Advanced Chess960 may be used.  The award conditions should explicitely state that the award is intended for computer-aided play.
2. Awards may be offered for non-game activities.  For example, an award might be offered for contests for creating a new variant, a piece of original writing, original artwork or original music, in some sort of judged contest.  There are many possibilities, and award donors are invited to be creative.
3. Members who wish to propose awards must state the judgement criteria clearly and allow them to be reviewed by the SchemingMind Scholarship Committee.  Full Members who would like to participate in the committee are encouraged to contact a committee member to find out more.
4. Members of the Scholarship Committee are excluded from participation in contests.

Liability

SchemingMind.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage caused as a result of using the site.

Although libellous and defamatory content will be removed as soon as possible, SchemingMind.com disclaims all responsibility for content posted by members.

Intellectual Property

All code, page layout and original images are the intellectual property of SchemingMind.com unless otherwise stated.

Individuals submitting original journal articles, puzzles, chess set images or other content retain copyright on these items, however it is implied that SchemingMind.com has permission to use such content on the site royalty free and in perpetuity.

All copyright restrictions apply where appropriate and will be enforced where possible.