Refund & Cancellation Policy

Chess Bird charges a tournament registration fee to cover the costs of platform infrastructure, match organisation, opponent scheduling, and prize pool management. This fee is generally non-refundable once a tournament spot has been confirmed.

However, we recognise that exceptional circumstances can arise — including tournament cancellations by the organiser or accidental duplicate payments — and we have clearly defined the circumstances under which a refund will be granted.

All refund requests must be submitted via one of the official support channels listed in Section 8 of this policy. Verbal requests or requests via unofficial channels will not be processed.

A full refund of the registration fee will be issued in the following circumstances:

If you have accidentally submitted two or more payments for the same tournament registration, Chess Bird will refund the duplicate amount(s) in full.

• A duplicate payment is defined as more than one successful payment transaction made by the same user for the same tournament, resulting in a single confirmed registration slot.
• If you believe you have made a duplicate payment, you must contact us within 7 days of the payment date with your transaction reference number(s) and the registered email address.
• Duplicate payment refunds will be processed within 5–7 business days of verification and returned to the original payment method.
• If the duplicate payment resulted in two separate tournament registrations being confirmed (e.g., registering two players), this will not be treated as a duplicate and the standard refund terms apply.

The following situations are not eligible for a refund under any circumstances. Please review this list carefully before registering and making payment.

• Voluntary Withdrawal: If you choose to withdraw from a tournament after your registration has been confirmed and your payment processed, you are not entitled to a refund, regardless of the reason.
• No-Show Without Prior Notice: If you fail to appear for your scheduled match(es) without notifying the administrator in advance, your registration fee is forfeited.
• Disqualification for Fair Play Violations: Any participant disqualified for using chess engines, playing on another person's account, or any other fair play violation will not receive a refund under any circumstances.
• Ineligibility Due to Player Error: If your registration is invalidated because you provided incorrect or fraudulent information (name, chess username, rating, etc.), no refund will be issued.
• Fraudulent UTR Reuse: Submitting multiple registrations using a single transaction UTR is strictly prohibited. Only the first registration will be approved. Any subsequent registrations attempting to reuse the same UTR will be immediately rejected and are not eligible for any refund.
• Platform or Internet Issues on the Player's Side: Technical difficulties on your device, ISP, or internet connection that result in missed matches are not grounds for a refund.
• Change of Mind: Registration fees are non-refundable simply because you have changed your mind or your circumstances have changed after confirmed registration.
• Partial Tournament Completion: If you have successfully played one or more rounds in a tournament before withdrawing or being eliminated through fair competition, no refund will be issued.

To submit a refund request, please follow these steps carefully. Requests that do not include the required information cannot be processed:

Please ensure that your refund request is submitted within 14 days of the event that gives rise to the refund claim (e.g., tournament cancellation date or duplicate payment date). Requests submitted after this period may not be honoured.

Once a refund request has been verified and approved, the following timelines apply:

Total maximum processing time from submission to credit is typically 7–10 business days. If the refund does not appear in your account after 10 business days from the date of our confirmation email, please contact us immediately with your refund reference number.

Refund timelines for credit/debit card transactions depend on the processing timelines of your issuing bank, which are beyond our control.

If a payment is initiated but fails partway through (e.g., network interruption, bank gateway error) and the amount is debited from your account but the registration is not confirmed, the following applies:

• In most cases, failed payment amounts are automatically reversed by Razorpay and credited back to your source account within 5–7 business days.
• This automatic reversal is handled by your bank and Razorpay without any action required from Chess Bird.
• If you do not receive the reversal within 7 business days, you should first contact your bank with the Razorpay transaction reference number.
• If the bank confirms that no reversal was received and the issue persists, contact Chess Bird support with your transaction details. We will raise a query with Razorpay on your behalf.
• In all failed-payment cases where a debit occurred without confirmed registration, Chess Bird will cooperate fully with your bank and Razorpay to facilitate the reversal.

For all refund requests, payment disputes, or billing queries, please reach out to our support team through any of the following channels. When contacting us, please always include your transaction reference ID and registered email address to expedite your query.

We aim to respond to all refund queries within 1–2 business days.

Chess Bird is committed to resolving all payment concerns fairly and transparently. If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your refund request, you may escalate your concern in writing to chessbirdtournament@gmail.com with the subject line "Escalation — [Your Name]" and we will review your case at a senior level within 5 business days.