MyChessDB has dug up a strangely old but familiar fear: having your PGN exposed. Several parents, and even a few players, have indicated they’re not happy about a platform collecting and listing all their games.
I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s not a fear with a fancy name like “arachnophobia”, but anyone who has played tournament chess knows the feeling. Call it chess anxiety or PGN anxiety, driven by exposure, judgment and a bit of vulnerability. A PGN is (for those who don’t know) Portable Game Notation, the move-by-move record of your game.
Here’s why I think it bites:
- Exposure: Chess is tied up with ego. A PGN shows every blunder in chronological order, with no excuses attached. Some players worry it will “prove” they aren’t as good as their rating suggests.
- Opening leakage: For serious tournament players, a public database means future opponents can study your repertoire and prepare something nasty. Fair enough, though I’d add that most of us aren’t important enough for anyone to bother :)
- Permanence: An embarrassing game stays in a database forever. That’s an uncomfortable thought, especially for a young player who has just had a bad day.
Okay there is the question of legality and privacy. Can a platform expose a game of a young, say 7 year old? A parent can cite the young one games should not be collected and broadcasted to the public. But in terms of copyright, it has been proven no one can hold the copyright of PGN games in two famous cases in the court of law in 2010 and 2016. In terms of exposing a young one's game, the World Cadets (Under-8, Under-10, Under-12) and World Youth (Under-14, Under-16, Under-18) for both Open and Girls sections where FIDE have the games broadcasted and PGN available in public.
I’ll admit the parents’ concern deserves extra respect. It’s one thing for an adult to accept being searchable. It’s another for a child’s games to be collected without anyone asking. I don’t have the answer on privacy settings or opt-outs for MyChessDB, so I won’t pretend to. If you have any thoughts on this, please comment.
That said, here’s how I’d look at it, as a third-rate blogger who has not posted many of his own embarrassing games over the years. But I have. One of which I "cheated" vs Nur Ilhamuddin:
- Everyone blunders: Even Super Grandmasters have PGNs where they hang a piece or lose in 15 moves. A PGN is a record of one human moment, not a verdict on your intelligence.
- Nobody cares as much as you think: Unless you’re a top-tier player, most people browsing a database are only checking what openings you play. They are not sitting there laughing at move 23.
- It can sharpen you: If you know the game might be seen, you may concentrate a little harder. Not a bad side effect.
To summarise, the fear is real and perfectly normal, but the cure is mostly perspective. Players and parents should still have a say in how their games are shared, and I hope organisers and platforms listen.
I did publish my infamous game vs Nur Ilhamuddin but the PGN was lost when I lost my gilachess domain. I sure wish I had MyChessDb then so that it would save that precious PGN. Of course that's a mix bag when I want my other embarassing games never be seen by any human eyes.
So tell me, would you be happy to see all your games listed in one place? Or would you rather keep a few of them buried deep, like I do? :)
