Cookie Policy
The short version: we use a small number of cookies and browser storage keys. Nearly all of them are there to keep you signed in, remember your settings, and keep the free trial honest.
Two tools are optional — product analytics and advertising — and neither does anything until you turn it on. One cookie sits outside both groups: if you arrived from an advert, we note which one, before the banner asks you anything. It has its own section below and it is the only item on this page that works that way. This page lists every single item, by name.
What cookies and local storage are
A cookie is a small piece of text a website asks your browser to keep, and your browser sends it back on your next visit. Local storage is a different box in the same browser: the page can read and write it, but it is never attached to requests automatically. Session storage works like local storage, except your browser throws it away when you close the tab.
That difference matters here, so we do not blur it. Some of what we use is not a cookie at all — our analytics tool keeps its id in local storage, so you will not find it in your browser's cookie list. Each item below says which of the three it is.
Cookies and storage are only part of the picture. Our servers also keep normal request logs, and we record the IP address of the browser that starts a free trial. Those are not cookies, and the Privacy Policyexplains them. In one place your browser also talks straight to another company's site — see Other sites your browser talks to.
The ones we cannot work without
These make the site do its job. You cannot switch them off here, because without them you cannot sign in, and we cannot count the reviews you have used. Under EU rules they do not need your consent.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
sq_trial | Cookie, set by our server | A signed token identifying the one free sample review this browser is allowed. It is what lets you come back and find the same review waiting, and it is why clearing the page's saved data does not hand you a second free review. | 400 days. Signing in does not clear it — it is what your account adopts the review from. |
sq_oauth_state | Cookie, set by our server, only during a Google sign-in | A signed one-time value that proves the Google sign-in you finish is the one you started in this browser, plus where to send you afterwards. | 10 minutes, and it is deleted the moment the sign-in completes or fails |
sq_session_id, sq_session_pinged | Session storage, set by this site | A random id for this browser tab, so that opening the app four times counts as four visits rather than one. It is sent to our own servers only, is never shared, and identifies a tab rather than a person. The second entry just records that this tab has already been counted. | Until you close the tab |
sq_trial_scroll_cta_dismissed, sq_trial_banner_dismissed | Session storage, set by this site | Remember that you closed the “try a free review” nudge on the home page, or the “create a free account” bar on a trial review, so neither comes back while this tab is open. | Until you close the tab |
sq_consent | Cookie set by this site, and copied into local storage under the same name | Remembers what you chose on the cookie banner, and when you chose it, so we stop asking. | 12 months |
admin_session | Cookie, set by our server | Signs our own staff into the admin panel. If you are not staff, you will never get one. | 8 hours by default |
currentUser:v2, currentUser, userId | Local storage | Who you are signed in as: your account id, your chess username and which platform it is from. The last two are older copies we still write so nothing breaks. | Until you sign out or clear your browser data |
sessionToken | Local storage | Your sign-in token. It goes with your requests so our server knows the games it is showing are yours. | Until you sign out or clear your browser data |
sq:engaged | Local storage | Records that you have run at least one review, so the homepage takes you to your dashboard instead of the marketing page. | Until you sign out or clear your browser data |
sq:onboarding-seen | Local storage | Records that you have seen the first-run walkthrough, so it shows once and then leaves you alone. | Until you sign out or clear your browser data |
lastSync_<your account id> | Local storage | When we last pulled your games, so we do not refetch them every time you open the dashboard. | Until you clear your browser data |
adminCsrfToken, admin-panel-session | Local storage | Admin panel only: a security token and the signed-in staff email. Normal users never get these either. | Until staff sign out |
Both server cookies are httpOnly, which means the code running on the page cannot read them. In production they are also marked Secure, so they only travel over an encrypted connection.
The trial cookie is deliberately forgiving. If your browser blocks it, the site keeps working — we simply treat you as a new visitor. Signing out deletes it, so the next person using this browser does not inherit your account or your remaining reviews.
The ones that remember your settings
These remember how you like the site set up. They are not used to track you and nothing about them is shared, so they do not need consent — but they are easy to clear yourself.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
sq_lang | Cookie set by this site | Your language choice, so pages come back in the language you picked. It is a cookie rather than storage because our server needs to read it before the page is built. | 1 year |
theme | Local storage | Light or dark. If you choose to follow your system setting instead, we delete this key rather than storing anything. | Until you change it or clear your browser data |
64sq-left-w, sq-coach-drawer-w, 64sq-insights-rail-w | Local storage | How wide you dragged the panels you can resize: the left panel and the coach chat drawer on the review page, and the chat rail on the insights page. | Until you clear your browser data |
64sq-moments-sort | Local storage | The order you chose for the list of key moments in a game. | Until you clear your browser data |
newsletterPopup | Local storage | Whether you already signed up for emails, and which pages you have seen, so the popup stops asking. | Until you clear your browser data |
newsletterPopupDismissed | Session storage | You closed the newsletter popup in this tab. | Until you close the tab |
The one that remembers which advert you clicked
When we run an advert, the link it points at carries a few labels in the address — which site the advert was on, which campaign it belongs to, and an id the ad network adds. If you arrive on one of those links, we copy those labels into the cookie below and keep them with your account when you make one. That is how we find out which adverts bring people who actually use Dam Chess.
We are giving it its own section because it is the one thing here that does not wait for the cookie banner, and burying that in a table would be the wrong way to tell you. It holds the labels your own link arrived with and nothing else — not the pages you go on to visit, not anything from other sites, and no new identifier. We keep the first one and never replace it, it is not shared with the ad network, and it is wiped off your account after 12 months.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
sq_attr | Cookie set by this site | The campaign labels from the link you first arrived on, so they are still there when you create an account minutes or days later. Only written if the link had them, and never overwritten once set. | 30 days on your device; 12 months on your account |
If you would rather not have it, delete sq_attr in your browser and it will not come back unless you click another advert of ours. To have the copy on your account cleared too, write to us — the address is in the Privacy Policy.
Analytics — only if you say yes
We use PostHog to see which parts of the product get used and where people get stuck. It runs only if you turn Analytics on in the cookie banner. Until you do, nothing is stored on your device and nothing is sent.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
ph_<project key>_posthog | Local storage, written by PostHog | Holds a random device id and a session id, so separate page views can be recognised as one visit. | Local storage has no expiry date. It stays until you withdraw consent or clear your browser data. |
__ph_opt_in_out_<project key> | Local storage, written by PostHog | Remembers that you said no. It only appears once PostHog has run at least once, and when you turn Analytics off we leave this one key in place on purpose — deleting it is what would let PostHog start capturing again. | Until you clear your browser data yourself. Turning Analytics off does not remove it. |
This is not a cookie, and we are not going to call it one. PostHog is set up to use local storage, so if you go looking in your browser's cookie list you will not find it — look under local storage for our site.
What PostHog receives:
- the random device and session id;
- the pages you visit, and when you leave them;
- product events, such as submitting a chess username, your games being fetched, and signing up for our emails;
- your Dam Chess account id and your chess username, once you have given us one — but never your email address.
The data goes to PostHog at us.i.posthog.com. Turn Analytics off and we stop capturing and clear the PostHog keys off your device for you — all except the opt-out key above, which has to stay so your no sticks.
Advertising — only if you say yes
We use the Meta Pixel to measure whether our adverts work. It runs only if you accept Marketing in the cookie banner. Decline it, or ignore the banner entirely, and nothing is loaded from Meta and no cookie is set — the default is off, so doing nothing is the same as saying no.
Turn Advertising off — reopen the banner from the footer — and we tell the pixel to stop sending and delete both cookies off your device for you, in this tab and in any others you have open. Nothing is loaded from Meta on any page after that. Here is what it sets while it is on.
| Name | Set by | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
_fbp | Cookie, set by Meta's script on our domain | Gives your browser a random id so Meta can tell whether an ad led to a visit. | 90 days |
_fbc | Cookie, set by Meta's script on our domain | Stores the click id from a Meta ad you arrived through, for the same measurement. | 90 days |
While it is on, Meta receives the pixel events, your IP address and those cookie identifiers.
Some of those same events are also sent to Meta by our server rather than by your browser — the two are matched up and counted once. That copy carries your IP address, the two cookie identifiers above, and, where you have an account, a scrambled one-way version of your email address. Scrambled means Meta can check it against addresses it already holds but cannot read it back or recover your address from it. We never send the address itself, and none of this happens unless Advertising is on.
Other sites your browser talks to
When you open the connected-accounts panel on your dashboard, it shows the current rating on each chess account you have linked. To get that number, your browser asks Chess.com or Lichess for it directly. The request does not go through our servers.
No cookie is involved: we do not set one, and we do not read theirs. It does mean that another company sees you. Chess.com or Lichess gets your IP address and the username being looked up, exactly as if you had opened their site in a tab yourself. We ask only for the public profile anyone can see, and we never send them a password or a login token, because we do not have one. What they do with that request is governed by their privacy policy, not ours.
If the request fails we simply leave the rating out, and the rest of the page works as normal. Fetching your actual games is a different thing: that runs on our servers, not in your browser, and the Privacy Policy covers it.
How to change your mind
You can change your answer whenever you like, and it is as easy to take back as it was to give.
Your answer is remembered for 12 months. After that we ask again, so a decision you made a year ago never quietly rolls on forever.
This page is only about your browser. The emails we send are a separate set of choices with a separate switch — turning off the advertising category here does not unsubscribe you from anything, and unsubscribing from an email does not change what is stored on this device. Email choices live in Email settings in your account, and are set out under Emails we send you.
You can also do it in your browser. Every browser can block cookies, delete them, and clear a site's stored data — usually under Settings, then Privacy. Browsers also have a private or incognito window, which throws everything away when you close it.
One warning. Blocking or clearing the strictly necessary items has real consequences: you will be signed out, and if you were using the free trial without an account, the games and reviews tied to that browser become very hard for us to find again. Nothing is lost if you have a signed-in account — sign in again and it is all there.
Changes to this policy
When we add or remove a cookie or a storage key, we update this page and change the date at the top. If the change affects something that needs your consent, we ask you again rather than assuming your old answer still stands.
Contact
Questions about anything on this page: [PLACEHOLDER: PRIVACY_EMAIL].
[PLACEHOLDER: COMPANY_LEGAL_NAME][PLACEHOLDER: REGISTERED_ADDRESS]
For the whole picture — what we collect, why, who we send it to and how long we keep it — read the Privacy Policy.
If you think we have handled this badly, you can complain to the Dutch data protection authority, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, Postbus 93374, 2509 AJ Den Haag, Netherlands, +31 88 180 52 50, or through the form at autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl.
Placeholders to fill in
- [PLACEHOLDER: EFFECTIVE_DATE] — the date at the top of the page.
- [PLACEHOLDER: PRIVACY_EMAIL] — the address for privacy and cookie questions.
- [PLACEHOLDER: COMPANY_LEGAL_NAME] and [PLACEHOLDER: REGISTERED_ADDRESS] — the company behind the site.