Was I in the Chess.com (2026) data scrape?
Data about 4,653,212 users was collected from Chess.com, an online chess website, in August 2026. It included email addresses, general locations, names and usernames. If you had an account there by August 2026, check your address below to see whether it is one of them.
Breach record last updated . Steps read from the government pages at the foot of this page.
What happened?
Millions of records said to come from the site were posted online in August 2026. They held email addresses, usernames, names, countries and details of users' accounts. Analysis indicated the data had been gathered by scraping, and almost all of its email addresses had already been seen in earlier breaches.
The record notes that the company disputed this, or that where the data came from was not confirmed. It is listed here because the data is in monitored breach databases.
- Organisation
- Chess.com, an online chess website (chess.com)
- When it happened
- August 2026
- Added to monitored breach databases
- 13 September 2026
- Accounts in the data
- 4,653,212
- What was exposed
- email addresses, general locations, names and usernames
The breach record cites a public report on securityaffairs.com.
What was exposed, and what does it mean for me?
- Your email addressemail addresses
Expect messages that look like they come from this service or another one you use, written to get you to click a link or sign in on a fake page.
- Other detailsgeneral locations, names and usernames
On their own these carry less risk, but they make a scam message sound more personal.
What should I do now?
In this order, for what this data scrape exposed.
1. Expect phishing
- Be wary of messages that urge you to act fast, ask for personal details, or link to an address that is slightly off.
- If a message might be genuine, do not use its links or phone numbers. Go to the site by typing its address yourself.
Is my address in it?
Enter your email address. We check that one address against monitored breach databases and show which breaches list it and what each exposed.
No account needed. We keep the address you check, when, and how many breach records it was found in, to prevent abuse, until you ask us to delete it. Privacy
Where does this come from?
- The breach record in monitored breach databases: dates, account count and what was exposed. What happened is in our own words.Read 14 October 2026
- CISA: Recognize and report phishingRead 14 October 2026
- Get Cyber Safe (Government of Canada): Fact sheet on phishingRead 14 October 2026