How To Cancel Chess.com Membership And Delete Your Account In 2026
David Roberts
Founder and CEO
10.11.2026
Short answer: on chess.com in a browser, click the Settings cogwheel, open Membership, scroll to Cancel Premium Membership and confirm on every screen that follows. Do it before your next renewal date. You cannot cancel a direct membership inside the mobile app; if you subscribed through Apple, Google Play or PayPal, cancel there instead. To delete the account itself, go to chess.com/my-data, enter your username under Right To Be Forgotten and stay signed out for 10 days.
Chess.com makes leaving Gold, Platinum or Diamond fairly painless once you know where the button is. The problem is that the button is in a different place depending on how you paid, the mobile app does not have it for most members, and “cancel my membership”, “close my account” and “delete my account” are three separate actions with very different results.
This guide covers every route: the web cancellation, Apple, Google Play and PayPal billing, the 7 day free trial, the Friends and Family plan, kids accounts and ChessKid, what happens to your rating, games and lessons, the 30 day money back guarantee, and how to close or permanently delete a Chess.com account, including whether you can ever get your username back.
First, Check Who Is Billing You
Chess.com can only cancel memberships it bills directly. Look at the charge on your bank, card or PayPal statement before you do anything else, because that tells you where the cancel option lives.
Chess.com has one free tier and three paid tiers, each available on monthly or annual billing, plus a Friends and Family plan that bundles up to six Diamond memberships. Prices vary by country and Chess.com shows them on its Membership page rather than in its help centre, so the price in your own Membership settings is the one that counts. Annual billing works out cheaper per month on every tier.
Plan
What it adds
Billing
Basic
Free play with daily limits on puzzles, game review and lessons, with ads
Free, what you drop to after cancelling
Gold
Unlimited lessons and puzzles, no ads, full opening explorer, more bots
Monthly or annual, auto-renews
Platinum
Everything in Gold plus unlimited Game Review and analysis
Monthly or annual, auto-renews
Diamond
Everything in Platinum plus coach explanations on every move, Insights and advanced stats
Monthly or annual, auto-renews
Friends and Family
Diamond for up to six accounts on one plan
Annual, auto-renews, billed to the primary account
If the reason you want to cancel is cost rather than the service, consider stepping down a tier instead. In Settings, then Membership, the Change Plan option lets you move from Diamond to Platinum or Gold, and the tab at the top of that screen switches between monthly and annual pricing.
When To Cancel So You Are Not Charged Again
Chess.com’s help centre says monthly and annual subscriptions paid by card or PayPal renew automatically until you turn renewal off. Cancelling stops the next charge but does not shorten the time you have already paid for, so there is no penalty for cancelling early.
Direct and PayPal memberships: cancel any time before the renewal date. PayPal’s own rule is that you can cancel an automatic payment up until the day of the next scheduled payment, but leaving it to that day is asking for trouble.
Apple subscriptions: Apple asks you to cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date, otherwise the next period can still be charged.
Free trial: the trial lasts 7 days and converts to a paid plan automatically, so cancel before day seven ends.
The safe habit is to cancel the day you decide to leave; premium features stay on until the paid period ends.
How To Cancel Chess.com Membership On The Web
This is the route for anyone who paid Chess.com directly by card. It has to be done in a browser: Chess.com’s help centre says direct memberships cannot be cancelled inside the mobile app. On a phone, open chess.com in Safari or Chrome and sign in.
Sign in at chess.com with the account that holds the membership.
Click the Settings cogwheel. On desktop it sits at the bottom of the left sidebar.
Open Membership from the settings menu. Note the renewal date shown here.
Scroll to Cancel Premium Membership and click it.
Work through the confirmation screens. Chess.com may show you what you lose or offer a different plan. Keep choosing to cancel until you reach a final confirmation.
Check the Membership page again. It should show an expiry date rather than a renewal date. Screenshot it.
Do not click Close Account by mistake. It sits in the Account section of the same settings area, and it closes the whole account rather than just the membership.
How To Cancel Chess.com Membership On iPhone
If you upgraded inside the Chess.com app on an iPhone or iPad, Apple owns the subscription and Chess.com cannot cancel or refund it. The tell is a charge reading APPLE.COM/BILL.
Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap your name at the top, then Subscriptions.
Select Chess.com from the list.
Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm.
You can also start from the app: tap More, then Membership, then Manage Membership, and the app hands you over to Apple’s subscription screen. If Chess.com is not listed, check another Apple Account or billing route.
How To Cancel Chess.com Membership On Android
Memberships bought in the Android app are billed through Google Play.
Open the Google Play Store app.
Tap your profile icon, then Payments and subscriptions, then Subscriptions.
Select Chess.com.
Tap Cancel subscription and follow the prompts.
From the Chess.com app, More, then Membership, then Manage Membership takes you to the same Google Play screen. On a computer, go to play.google.com, open My Subscriptions, choose Chess.com, then Manage and Cancel subscription.
How To Cancel A Chess.com Membership Paid With PayPal
PayPal is the route people miss most often. If you paid through PayPal, Chess.com’s help centre says to cancel the automatic payment in PayPal itself, and a charge after cancelling is usually a PayPal agreement that was left running.
Sign in to PayPal and open Settings with the gear icon.
Select Payments, then Manage Automatic Payments.
Find Chess.com in the list of merchants.
Click Cancel, then confirm with Cancel Automatic Payments.
How To Cancel The Chess.com Free Trial
Every eligible account gets one 7 day free trial, which can be used on Gold, Platinum, Diamond or the Friends and Family plan. Chess.com asks for a payment method to start it, and if you do nothing the trial renews as a paid subscription on that card.
Cancel the trial with exactly the same steps as a paid membership, using the route that matches how you started it. Chess.com says there is no charge if you cancel within the trial period. Set a reminder for day five or six the moment you sign up, and remember the trial is once per account: if you rejoin later, billing starts straight away.
Friends And Family Plans
The Friends and Family plan puts up to six Diamond memberships on one annual bill. One person is the primary account and can invite up to five secondary accounts. Only the primary account can manage it.
If you are the primary account, cancel from Settings, then Membership on the web like any direct membership. To drop one person instead, use Remove Member next to their name on the same page.
If you are a secondary account, you are not paying and there is nothing for you to cancel. Ask the primary holder to remove you, or simply stop using the extra features.
Leaving the plan does not delete your account. A removed member keeps their account, rating and games and drops back to the free tier.
Kids Accounts And ChessKid
Parents searching for how to cancel a child’s Chess.com membership are often dealing with one of two different products.
A child on Chess.com itself. Chess.com requires users to meet a minimum age, which is 13 in most countries and higher in some, such as 16 in several European countries. Younger players need a parent or guardian to complete a consent form, and until that is done the account is muted with social features switched off. If your child has a paid membership on their own Chess.com account, sign in to that account and cancel it with the steps above. Parents can also ask Chess.com to switch on Safe Mode, which disables messages, chat and comments.
A child on ChessKid. ChessKid is Chess.com’s separate platform for players under 13, with its own Gold membership. To cancel it on the web, sign in to the account that bought the membership, click the cogwheel next to the avatar, choose Subscription, then See Billing Info, and click Cancel Auto-Renewal or Cancel Gold Membership in the right sidebar. Only the purchasing account can see or cancel it, and ChessKid memberships bought through Apple or Google Play are cancelled there. To remove a child’s ChessKid account, a parent goes to Manage, then Kids, opens the menu next to the child, chooses Edit Kid and clicks Disable Account.
What Happens To Your Rating, Games And Lessons
Cancelling a membership is a billing change, not an account change. Chess.com says premium benefits stay active until the end of the period you paid for, after which the account switches to the free Basic plan automatically.
Item
After your membership ends
Ratings in every time control
Kept, unchanged
Game archive and past games
Kept; you can still open and replay them
Lessons
Back to the Basic daily limit; progress already made stays on the account
Puzzles and Game Review
Back to the Basic daily limits
Diamond coach explanations, Insights and advanced stats
No longer available
Ads
Return
Friends, clubs and messages
Kept
Vacation days for Daily games
Drop to the Basic allowance
Courses and MoveTrainer content bought separately are individual purchases rather than part of the membership, with their own 30 day refund policy. If you want to restart before the end date, Settings, then Membership shows a Restart Plan option that simply turns auto-renewal back on without charging you immediately.
Cancel, Close Or Delete Your Chess.com Account?
Chess.com has three separate exits, and picking the wrong one is the most common mistake people make here. Most people only need the first.
Cancel membership
Close account
Delete account
Stops future charges
Yes
Direct and Google Play memberships end; Apple must be cancelled separately
Premium ends immediately; Apple must be cancelled separately
Keeps rating and games
Yes
Hidden while closed, back if you reopen
No; games stay on record but anonymised
Can you play
Yes, on Basic
No
No
Reversible
Yes, rejoin any time
Yes, sign in and choose Reopen Account
Only within 10 days, by signing in
Where to do it
Settings, then Membership
Settings, then Account, then Close Account
chess.com/my-data, Right To Be Forgotten
How to close your Chess.com account
Closing is the reversible option. On the web, click the Settings cogwheel, choose All Settings, then Account, scroll to Close Your Account and click Close Account, then enter your password and confirm with the red button. In the app, tap More, then Settings, then Account, tap the Tap Here text, choose Close My Account, enter your password and tap Close My Account again.
To reopen an account you closed yourself, sign in with your username and password, click Reopen Account and enter the code Chess.com emails you. That self-service route works only for email and password logins; if you signed in with Google, Apple or Facebook, or you hold a title, you need to contact support.
How To Delete Your Chess.com Account
Deleting is the permanent option, and it runs through Chess.com’s data request page rather than the Close Account button. Cancel any Apple subscription first, because deleting the account does not reach into your Apple Account.
Delete a Chess.com account on the web
Go to chess.com/my-data and sign in. You can also reach it from Settings, then Account, then Manage Data.
Scroll to Right To Be Forgotten at the bottom of the page.
Type your username in the box.
Click Delete and confirm.
Sign out and stay signed out for 10 days. Remove the app from your phone or log it out so it does not sign you back in.
Delete a Chess.com account in the app
Tap More, then Settings, then Account.
Turn on Remove my data.
Read the disclaimer and tap OK.
Tap Delete Account to submit the request.
The 10 day rule and what deletion removes
Chess.com processes a deletion over 10 days. If you sign in during that time, the request is cancelled, which is the usual reason a deletion seems not to have worked. After 10 days it cannot be undone, even by Chess.com staff.
Removed: your personal data, except what Chess.com must keep for legal reasons.
Anonymised, not removed: your game records, comments and other public posts. If you want forum posts or comments gone, delete them yourself before you submit the request.
Membership: an active Gold, Platinum or Diamond plan is cancelled immediately when you submit the request, so any paid time left is lost.
Already closed account: you cannot use the self-service tool. Go to Help and Support from the cogwheel, choose Something else, then I want to delete my closed account.
Accounts closed for breaking the rules can be anonymised on request but not fully deleted.
Can You Reuse Your Username Later?
Do not count on it. Chess.com’s help centre says it has paused releasing inactive usernames while it reworks the process, and a taken name simply shows as unavailable when someone tries to claim it. In practice that means a username stays tied to its account, and a deleted username is not something you can reclaim later.
If what you really want is a fresh name, you do not need a new account. You can change your username for free every 90 days, with no membership needed: on the web go to Settings, then Profile, and click Change next to your username; in the app tap More, then Profile, the three dots, then Edit Profile. Your rating and games come with you. Ratings and game history never transfer to a new account, so this beats deleting and starting over.
Chess.com Refund Policy
Chess.com is more generous than most subscriptions here. Its help centre says all first-time credit card and Android subscriptions get a 30 day Money Back Guarantee. Outside that, cancelling simply stops renewal and does not refund the current billing period.
How to ask: open Help and Support from the cogwheel, type “I want a refund” in the support messenger and follow the prompts to the Billing team.
Apple subscriptions: Chess.com cannot refund these. Request one from Apple through its Report a Problem page, choosing Request a refund and selecting Chess.com. Apple alone decides.
Double charges: use the same refund route and Billing will review it.
Banned accounts: refunds are refused if the account was closed for cheating, abuse or other rule breaking.
Courses: MoveTrainer and video courses have their own 30 day money back guarantee; ask with “I’d like to be refunded for a Course”.
If you are inside the first 30 days of your first paid membership, ask for the refund when you cancel.
Charged After Cancelling? Troubleshooting
Symptom
Likely cause
Fix
No cancel option in the app
Direct memberships cannot be cancelled in the app
Open chess.com in a browser and use Settings, then Membership
No Cancel Premium Membership button on the web
Apple, Google Play or a Friends and Family plan holds the membership
Cancel where billing lives, or ask the primary account holder
Charged after cancelling on chess.com
A PayPal automatic payment is still active
Cancel Chess.com in PayPal under Manage Automatic Payments
Charged after closing the account
The subscription was through Apple
Cancel it in iPhone Settings, then Subscriptions, and ask Apple for a refund
Account still there after deleting
You signed in during the 10 day window
Submit the deletion again and stay signed out for 10 days
Charged after the free trial
The 7 day trial converted to paid
Cancel now and request the 30 day money back refund
Charge for ChessKid, not Chess.com
A separate ChessKid Gold membership
Cancel it from the ChessKid account that bought it
If none of these fits, open Help and Support from the cogwheel and message the support team with your cancellation screenshot and the date and amount of the charge.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I cancel my Chess.com membership?
On chess.com in a browser, click the Settings cogwheel, open Membership, click Cancel Premium Membership and confirm. Apple, Google Play and PayPal subscribers cancel through those services instead.
Can I cancel Chess.com membership in the app?
Only if Apple or Google Play bills you, in which case the app’s Manage Membership link sends you to their subscription screen. Memberships paid to Chess.com directly have to be cancelled on the website.
How do I delete my Chess.com account?
Go to chess.com/my-data, enter your username under Right To Be Forgotten and click Delete, or turn on Remove my data in the app’s Account settings. Then stay signed out for 10 days.
Does deleting my account cancel my membership?
Yes for memberships billed by Chess.com, and immediately, so you lose any paid time left. Apple subscriptions must be cancelled separately in your Apple Account.
Can I get a Chess.com refund?
First-time credit card and Android subscriptions have a 30 day money back guarantee. Ask through Help and Support. Apple purchases are refunded only by Apple.
Will I lose my rating if I cancel?
No. Cancelling only changes your plan to Basic. Your ratings, games and friends stay on the account.
Can I reopen a closed Chess.com account?
Yes, if you closed it yourself. Sign in, click Reopen Account and enter the emailed code. A deleted account cannot be recovered after the 10 day window.
Can someone else take my username after I delete my account?
Chess.com has paused releasing inactive usernames, so names are not currently handed out again, and you should not expect to reclaim yours either.
How do I cancel the Chess.com free trial?
Use the same steps as a paid membership before the 7 day trial ends. Chess.com does not charge if you cancel within the trial.
How do I cancel my child’s ChessKid membership?
Sign in to the ChessKid account that bought it, open the cogwheel, then Subscription and See Billing Info, and click Cancel Gold Membership.
More Cancellation Guides
For every service we cover, start with our guide on how to cancel subscriptions online. If you are clearing out gaming subscriptions too, these are the ones people most often forget:
Check your statement: a Chess.com card charge means cancel on the website, APPLE.COM/BILL means iPhone Settings, GOOGLE means the Play Store, PayPal means PayPal’s automatic payments.
On the web, click the Settings cogwheel, then Membership, then Cancel Premium Membership, and confirm every screen.
Cancel before the renewal date, and before day seven of a free trial.
Inside 30 days of your first paid membership? Ask Help and Support for a refund.
Your rating and games stay; you drop to the free Basic plan when the paid period ends.
To leave for good, close the account (reversible) or delete it at chess.com/my-data and stay signed out for 10 days.
