README

Latest update: 2017-07-31 by @bcurtis

Chess.com is making the chess game and community data available to outside programmers through two APIs:

• The "Published-Data API," which re-publishes as JSON most of the public data available on the website, and is easy to use with little programming skill and so if you have a simple feature to build or are just dabbling in programming this is where to start. The "PubAPI" has endpoints coming online now; you can START HERE with the general documentation and list of available endpoints.
• The "Interactive API," which is the same connection our official mobile apps use to obtain data and send commands, and as such it requires a developer application process and more complex handling of security and data handling. Information will be posted soon about how to participate in the release over the coming year.

This README will be edited from time to time to reflect the current state of the rollout. When contributing comments below about how the README should be improved, consider that previous comments may refer to older versions of the README.

Visit the CHANGELOG forum to review the latest updates.

Bug reports, feature requests, and commentary posted to these forums will be read by the developers building these tools. We may not respond immediately or at all, but every post will be read.

These APIs should be considered BETA products.

These APIs are currently under development and many many changes will be released over the next six months. We will actively incorporate your comments left here in the devclub forum, but this means that API endpoints not clearly marked as "stable" should not be considered for critical production applications. We may temporarily suspend the service without notice for maintenance, security, or other reasons. With your active participation in these forums, you can help us avoid breakages while improving the access for everyone.

During this release period, we will be determining priorities and value based on feedback from the community. Participants should not expect a precise or reliable development roadmap while these APIs are in beta.

All data are owned by Chess.com. This data retention statement is intended to provide guidance to developers as we gather their feedback and create a more formal agreement. The final published terms may change your rights, and by accessing the API you agree to apply those terms retroactively to data you may have previously downloaded. If you are not comfortable using an API and data which may have the terms of use change possibly frequently and without notice, then we advise that you postpone your development until after the beta period is complete. Please continue to participate in the discussion to help us craft the best policy for everyone.
Under no circumstances may data obtained from the Chess.com website or API be used to create or augment a competing service. If you are concerned that your service may be deemed "competing," ask us. Store only the data you need to provide your service and only for as long as needed. Respect the Chess.com community by not displaying or processing outdated and misleading data. Your rights to use, process, or share the data may change from time to time, so that we may protect our users' privacy and Chess.com's ability to provide an enjoyable service.

2017-07-31, replaced this data retention paragraph:

Chess.com retains full rights to the data provided, and by accessing these APIs you agree to not harvest or store the data for offline use in any way. The exact terms of use for these APIs is also under development, and we welcome feedback. If you are not comfortable using an API and data which may have the terms of use change possibly frequently and without notice, then we advise that you postpone your development until after the beta period is complete.

...with this new text to clarify storing data offline:

All data are owned by Chess.com. This data retention statement is intended to provide guidance to developers as we gather their feedback and create a more formal agreement. The final published terms may change your rights, and by accessing the API you agree to apply those terms retroactively to data you may have previously downloaded. If you are not comfortable using an API and data which may have the terms of use change possibly frequently and without notice, then we advise that you postpone your development until after the beta period is complete. Please continue to participate in the discussion to help us craft the best policy for everyone.
Under no circumstances may data obtained from the Chess.com website or API be used to create or augment a competing service. If you are concerned that your service may be deemed "competing," ask us. Store only the data you need to provide your service and only for as long as needed. Respect the Chess.com community by not displaying or processing outdated and misleading data. Your rights to use, process, or share the data may change from time to time, so that we may protect our users' privacy and Chess.com's ability to provide an enjoyable service.

Is Chess.com claiming to own the PGN/data for the games I've played?  Is this that an app can't  enable a user to download their personal games in order to transfer the games into a private database or other chess analysis program?   

This is a temporary statement during the beta testing. By claiming full ownership, Chess.com retains rights to data that you may have downloaded — for example, if we receive comments that certain data are considered private, we will retract future API access to those data but we also need previous downloads to be cleaned up. By using the API, you agree that Chess.com has the right to require that you support our community in the same way we do, and that you will clean up such data you may have downloaded. The easiest way to comply is not to store data that is not recently obtained from the API.

Our intent is fully to empower our players to improve and enjoy their games, and the final rules are likely to emphasize player rights to the data they contributed to. Your description of an app sounds in line with that goal, and so the final rules will likely be formed to permit such activity. However, if this fictional app downloaded all games from many people and re-published them in a public forum, that is unlikely to be permitted since it does not respect the players' rights.

We understand that these rules may be uncomfortable in their current state. Your feedback will help us refine the rules when we wrap up the beta period. If you feel that the temporary rules are too vague or restrictive, please postpone development of your idea until we refine them. This may be many months; we need to see actual uses of the API in the wild and gather feedback. In the meantime, please do continue to tell us what you need to make this work well for you!

Hi there, just wanted to check in on the progress of the Interactive Api. Is this still in development?

Many Thanks

https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/guide-applying-for-oauth-access

Enjoy!

I think I should take time to ensure that what I have done is in compliance with your rules. 

First, I need to make sure that you understand I am not a competing activity. On my website or in my postings I state that in order to qualify in my tournament players must complete 8 daily matches in 30 previous days on chess.com. If my tournament is successful that should incentivize the playing community to continue to play matches here. so here is a comparison of what I am doing and how I do it.

1 you use the match outcomes from ALL the matches to determine the winners. 

2 The tournament is constantly running. 

3 A player is an involuntary participant.4 It runs in weekly segments.

5 you award trophies

My tournament

1. uses the rating that a player is awarded from a rapid 30-min match on chess.com

2. the tournament runs daily (every day, no brackets waiting times)

3. A player is an involuntary participant (on the free version)

4. A players entering average of ratings are compared to the most recent average of ratings (after updating with the most recent rating) creating a 'score'

5. A player is placed on a 4 person's team based on entering average

6. A team is made up of a novice, two intermediate, and an advanced player (captain) from all over the world

7. A players 'score' is added to the 'scores' of the other three teammates

8. Winners are determined by the ratio of the event,

         a.  winner take all (one team)

           b. one winner for every 100 entries (dependent on the number of entries)

9 there currently are two events, 'winner takes all' and 'one winner per 100 entries' (the ratio can be adjusted depending on demand and be added to the number of events available)

10 at some point in the future if there is demand for it, then     

         a. There would be cash prizes offered      

         b. chess.com allows it   

         c. It would be a voluntary, members-only event, apart from the free events     

         d. the entry fee would be $6 (USD)     

         e. Prize fund is 80% of entry fee times number of participants (minimum 500 members)    

I have been as open as possible from the very beginning when @erik gave me the ok to continue, but as I have worked pretty hard, for a 75-year-old man, I don't want there to be any misunderstanding and find out someday down the road that I have broken an understanding. 

Here are the results from today's tournament so you can take a look. To examine the output in detail. please visit 222.4teamchess.com

Tisztelt tanárúr!

Páll József Sándor a nevem, 46 éves vagyok, és

szeretnék önöktöl tanúlni. Előre is köszönöm

kedves szándékukat!

Tisztelettel: Páll József Sándor.

Kelt: Debrecen, 2024 02 26.

Örömmel segítek, ha hozzám intézed a kérésedet, YankeeBastid Translated with the help of chatGPT

Hallo, I notied that the countries/US/Clubs endpoint seems to be down... Could someone take a look please?

Гондоны! взяли отключили от игры, а мне засчитали поражение! Еще раз гондоны!