Terms and Conditions
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I hereby declare that I have read, understood and accept the regulations, and membership, privacy and use of data procedures, and the disclaimer contained on this page.
Regulations, Privacy and Use of Data
It is of the utmost importance that FIDE online arena provides a pleasant and secure environment for player and observer alike. The following regulations have been formulated to guarantee that the highest possible ethical standards and conduct are maintained.
In order to become guest or full members, membership applicants are required to declare that they have read, understood and accept the following text regarding privacy and key site regulations
At any time, users have the right to revoke permission to use data.
These regulations must be adhered to at all times by all site users:
1) PLAYER CONDUCT
All FIDE online arena full members must conduct themselves ethically.
1.1 Cheating
Players are not permitted to engage in unfair game practices such as using software assistance, or allowing substitute players to share their account. There is zero tolerance of such conduct, which is quite clearly cheating. The sophisticated ACE-Guard™ anti-cheating system monitors every single game played between two full members and analyses all performance trend variations with extreme precision. Any evidence of cheating and suspicious performance alteration is automatically reported to the Site Administrator, who then decides on the appropriate course of action or penalty.
Each player is awarded a Fairness Index Rating, which is expressed as a scale of 1 to 5 stars of different colours.
To further guarantee the highest possible standards, our Anti-Cheating Team constantly monitors tournaments and individual challenge games for regulation violation. The team is made up of highly qualified information technology and anti-cheating specialists, chess masters and legal experts. Their responsibility is to evaluate violations and together with the Site Administrator decide on the appropriate action to take against an offender.
1.2 Chat
Exchanging chat messages with other players can be fun as well as informative. However, it is fundamental that all chat be of a cordial nature; the use of unacceptable language is a clear violation of FIDE online arena regulations.
The following are strictly forbidden:
The use of insulting, offensive language, swear words, and obvious euphemisms or code words
The use of obscene, racist or intimidating language or comments of an offensively personal nature
- Inappropriate or offensive remarks regarding FIDE online arena or its staff
- Accusations of cheating. Usually such accusations are unfounded. Members are requested not to make accusations of cheating to FIDE online arena staff, as all games between full members are checked by the AceGuard anti-cheating system.
To assist in the monitoring of chat abuse, the system records all chat messages.
2) PENALTIES FOR BREACH OF REGULATIONS
FIDE online arena reserves the right to take all appropriate measures in response to any breach of regulations. In the event a player has been found to be in violation of tournament or challenge game regulations, FIDE online arena staff will warn and advise the player in question, or immediately suspend for a limited period of time or annul his or her membership.
All decisions and penalties regarding any breach of regulations are final and not subject to appeal or discussion.
In the event of one or more clear violations of FIDE online arena regulations, a user's membership can be suspended or annulled with immediate effect at any time. As members agree to abide by FIDE online arena regulations when applying for membership, no partial or full refund of membership fees shall be made when a membership is annulled because of breach of regulations. If any conduct or activity by user is in breach of applicable laws, the relevant authorities shall be informed as required by law.
2.1 Cheating
Cheating is one of the most serious breaches of FIDE online arena regulations and can result in immediate membership suspension or annulment. When membership is annulled because of cheating, all association by that member with the site may be cancelled, future membership could be prohibited, and the member in question could be banned from participating in FIDE online arena competitions for a period of time to be determined.
2.2 Chat
FIDE online arena takes all chat misconduct very seriously, and it will take quick action any time it occurs.
FIDE online arena reserves the right to temporarily or permanently withdraw a user's chat service, and, in serious cases of misconduct, annul membership.
2.3 Fairness Index
FIDE online arena reserves the right to change the Fairness Index rating of any player considered to be in breach of regulations, in particular in regard to the completely prohibited use of software assistance or substitute players.
2.4 FIDE online ratings.
FIDE online arena reserves the right to increase, decrease or annul a member's player performance rating, in particular as a penalty for using software or account sharing.
2.5 Game fairness evaluation
FIDE online arena reserves the rights to evaluate if any conduct unfairly compromises a game and take appropriate penalty actions.
2.6 Administrator and technical support
FIDE online arena reserves the right to temporarily or permanently suspend membership in the event of a breach of administrator or technical support staff regulations
3) INTERNET CONNECTION AND DISCONNECTION
FIDE online arena accepts no responsibility for any problems caused by the instability of a user's Internet connection or originating from his or her computer. Our server continuously monitors each player's connection and records any instability that occurs.
A player loses a game if they voluntarily disconnect their computer or log off while a game is in progress. If disconnection occurs involuntarily as a result of connection problems, the system will try to re-establish the connection with the player, who - if play resumes - loses the time taken to do this. After several unsuccessful reconnection attempts or the passing of an excessive amount of time without a connection, the player loses the game. No protest, claim, or game replay request will be accepted in the event a user has problems with his or her Internet connection or computer during the course of a game or tournament.
It is completely impossible to change your own or your opponent's remaining playing time during the course of any game played on FIDE online arena. This is because playing time is automatically managed and calculated by our server, and not by a player's computer, which receives all playing time information from our system. Any lag in either player's computer is detected by our server, which then makes the necessary adjustment to the time displayed on the players' computers to compensate for the lag (i.e. the arena server and players' clocks are synchronized).
4) RESOLUTION OF PROBLEMS RELATED TO TECHNICAL MALFUNCTIONS
It is extremely rare that malfunctioning technology creates any serious problems and the vast majority of games and events proceed smoothly. FIDE online arena does not accept any responsibility for any problems related to Internet speed, connection quality or interruption unrelated to our server, as these are completely beyond our control.
The information that is exchanged between our server and a user's computer passes through an enormous number of nodes, i.e. connection points that are completely independent and separate from FIDE online arena and the user's Internet provider.
Members are advised to consider obtaining an alternative means of connecting to the Internet, so that they can reconnect quickly in the event there is a problem with their principal means of connection.
In the very rare event that there is a problem with FIDE online arena's server, all connected players are affected and the problem is immediately apparent to FIDE online arena staff and all players online.
Problems can be caused by the members' computers or how they are configured. Where possible we can supply limited assistance as to possible remedies. However, in many cases it could be advisable for the members to consult their personal computer technician.
If there are problems directly connected with the FIDE online arena server that cause an interruption to the supply of games management services, all tournament and challenge match games in progress will be annulled. Upon the resupply of games management services, all games that were annulled because of service interruption will be replayed from the beginning (not from the position at the time of service interruption!) All results before service interruption remain valid.
If any interruption in the supply of games services caused directly by FIDE online arena's server lasts for a time period longer than 30 minutes, or it is impossible to restore an event or events, the Games Manager has the right to cancel, annul or terminate a tournament as follows:
- Tournament in the registration phase: the tournament is cancelled
- Tournament in progress: the tournament is manually terminated by the Games Manager (games in progress will be annulled) and there will be a roll forward, namely:
- If the 1st round has not been completed, the tournament will be annulled.
- If a minimum of 1 round has been completed, all games in progress will be annulled, and the standings table after the last round completed before service interruption will be considered to be the final standings.
5) TOURNAMENTS AND CHALLENGES
Tournament information:
Complete tournament information can be found in the Lobby:
- Challenge game details can be found by clicking on the Challenges tab
- Tournament details can be found by clicking in the Sit & Go and Scheduled tabs
5.1 Tournament registration
To register for a tournament, first look at the Sit & Go or Scheduled window; when you see Registering in the column for any particular tournament, you can join that tournament by simply clicking on the Register button.
Tournament registration can be cancelled by clicking on the Cancel Reg button: Tournament registration cancellation is allowed until one minute before the start of the tournament.
If a registered player is disconnected at the time a tournament starts, he or she will still appear on the tournament schedule, and can participate in future rounds on reconnection. It is the responsibility of the player to be available for play when a tournament begins. If the participant is not available to play when a tournament game begins, he or she will forfeit the game, which is recorded as a loss.
Should a participant forfeit two consecutive tournament games, he or she will automatically be expelled from the tournament.
5.2 Challenge games and matches
A challenge game is when one user challenges another user or all users to a single game; a challenge match is when one user challenge another to a series of games: the player who issues the challenge is automatically registered for the event.
The challenger can cancel the challenge if it has not it been formally accepted by another player.
A challenge game or match becomes a registered event as soon as the negotiation stage is concluded and the opponent formally accepts the challenge. From this point on, the agreement of both participants is required before the event can be cancelled.
5.3 Player pairing procedure
All tournaments involve successive rounds; in each round every player is paired with an opponent. FIDE pairing methods are used. Pairing is determined by the rating difference between participants, and the players' position in the tournament standings table. More precisely, for a round-robin or knockout tournament, pairings are done at the beginning of the tournament for all the rounds; whereas for a Swiss-system tournament, pairing is done at the beginning of each individual round.
5.4 How tournament and challenge game/match results are determined
There are only three possible results for a tournament, challenge or challenge match game: a win, a draw or a loss.
FIDE online rating change is calculated using the final result of a challenge match or tournament and not on a game-by-game basis.
For tournaments, the final standing results are governed by the rules of the tournament in question. In the event of a tied result, one or all of various tie-break methods are used to determine the winner. A player can resign a game at any time, giving his opponent a full point for a win. In the event a player withdraws from the tournament itself, he or she will not participate in successive rounds and will be excluded from the final standings.
6) FIDE ONLINE RATINGS
Numerical FIDE ratings indicate a chess player's ability and performance; Full members can have as many as four different online ratings. There are three official FIDE online ratings: one for bullet, blitz and rapid; these ratings are for games played with other full members, all of which are monitored by the ACE-Guard™ anti-cheating system. In addition, there is a single unmonitored rating for all games played with guest members (these games are not monitored by our anti-cheating system). Guest members have only a single unmonitored rating that merges their performance in all time controls. In open tournaments a player with any rating can participate, whereas in closed tournaments only players within a certain rating band can participate.
7) GUEST MEMBERS
Registered FIDE online arena Guest Members are subject to all regulations:
7.1 Guest Membership Registration
During guest membership registration, the applicant must provide his or her own e-mail address, submit a user nickname, with which he or she will later be identified in the Lobby and elsewhere; and choose a password, which will be used with his or her nickname to gain access to the system.
The password is known only to the user; in the event it is forgotten, the system can be requested to automatically resend it to the user's own e-mail address, which is given at the time of registration.
7.2 Guest upgrade to full membership
When a guest member decides to upgrade to Full Membership, further registration is required. Once this upgrade registration process is completed, a guest user becomes a full FIDE online arena member and is able to participate in official FIDE online tournaments, receive official FIDE online ratings and classification, and enjoy all the rights, advantages, and fun that full membership brings.
8 ) FULL MEMBERS
Full members or users who pay for specific services must provide certain data, such as full name and address and, when required other data such as, banking details, credit card numbers, FIDE ID number, telephone number, etc.
As for all FIDE over-the-board events, the names and surnames of FIDE online arena full member players are freely available to other players or observers.
9) USERNAME CHANGE AND MEMBERSHIP CANCELLATION
9.1 Membeship Cancelleation
For legal, administrative and technical reasons, guest FIDE online arena memberships shall not be renamed or annulled under any circumstances. If a guest member no longer wishes to use their account, they can simply discontinue using the arena. A full FIDE online arena member's nickname cannot be renamed or modified under any circumstances. If a full member wishes to cancel their membership they must send an e-mail requesting this to [email protected]. At anytime the sending of FOA information email messages and newsletters can be cancelled by writing to FOA at [email protected], stating user name and the email address to which the FOA information email messages and/or the newsletters are being sent. Email and newsletter delivery cancellation can also be done using the cancellation link contained in each newsletter.
9.2 Refund policy
If a player is not 100% satisfied with his/her FIDE Online Arena membership, he/she is entitled to a full refund of the membership fee within 15 days from the date of purchase. If a player has paid for an online title during these 15 days, then no refund of a membership fee is possible. Once paid, online title fees and their connected membership fees cannot be refunded.
10) SITE SERVICE ACCESS
Game services are accessible at the times and dates published.
FIDE online arena reserves the right to temporarily disrupt services for necessary site maintenance and organizational work. In this event, all challenge games, challenge matches and tournaments in progress will be annulled, with issues regarding classification, rating, prizes, etc, being resolved in the same way as when there is a disruption in services created by a malfunction of our server (see above).
In the Lobby, players always have access to detailed information regarding all events they have participated in.
11) INFORMATION ACCESS
Regulations, how to play instructions, calendars, schedules, times and dates of service access, and all other information regarding events are readily available in the Lobby and elsewhere on this site.
12) ADMINISTRATOR AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT
FIDE online arena supplies excellent arena administrator and technical support for its members. The well being and protection of support staff is of the utmost importance. Therefore the following will not be tolerated:
- inappropriate or abusive language
- persistent repetition of an answered query
- inappropriate comments regarding administrators or technical support staff
Note that queries and requests for information must be reasonably short and clear.
FIDE online arena does not allow its administrators or technical staff to give out their names or other personal details.
13) PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
By registering as a member, each user agrees to allow FIDE arena online to process and use personal data in accordance with FOA procedures as allowed by applicable laws.
14) PROOF OF IDENTITY
FIDE Arena has the right to request specific proof of identity (e.g. passport, ID card, etc.) from any member for verification purposes directly related to FIDE or FIDE online arena and its activities (e.g. prizes, awarding of titles, suspicion of cheating). If the member fails to comply with a request for identity verification, FIDE Arena has the right to withhold its services, prizes, awarding of ratings, titles, etc and/or suspend or cancel paid membership of FIDE online arena and/or FIDE online arena services until the requested proof of identity is supplied.
15) DISCLAIMER
The materials and services at and connected to FIDE online arena are provided "as is" without any express or implied warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, FIDE online arena excludes liability for the unavailability or interruption of any of its services or any features thereof, for any errors or omissions from its services or products, and for any loss, claim, damages or any special, consequential, incidental, exemplary or punitive damages (whether direct or indirectly incurred) of any kind arising out of or in connection with any visitor's or user's access to, or use of, FIDE online arena, or any material thereon, whether based in contract, tort or whether negligent or otherwise, even if FIDE online arena has been advised of the possibility of such damage.
FIDE online arena does not warrant the content, accuracy or veracity of any material or other information on the Website nor does it warrant that the Website is free from errors, faults, viruses or other computer or data-corrupting or data-damaging material. Therefore, the use of this Website is at the visitors', members' or users' own personal risk. If you do not agree with or accept anything in the regulations above or in this present disclaimer, you should not signal your acceptance of the regulations and this present disclaimer and you should not use this website.