If you want to give a special gift to a chess lover, you might want to think outside the box. Instead of the usual gifts like chess boards or books, consider something different that they will really enjoy.
Here are three fun gift ideas for chess enthusiasts:
- Chess Movies: Find interesting films about chess. These can be inspiring and entertaining!
- Online Chess Subscription: Get them a subscription to an online chess platform. This way, they can play games and improve their skills anytime they want.
- Online Chess Course: Look for a great online course that teaches chess strategy and tactics. Make sure it’s something that will really help them learn and have fun.
With these unique gifts, you can surprise your chess-loving friends!
Table of Contents
Unusual Chess Gift Ideas # 1: Chess Movies
Watching movies is a big part of our lives today. Movies can help us feel different emotions, like happiness and inspiration. They can also motivate us to be great at something.
Some movies are not very popular, while others are must-sees for fans. For chess lovers, there are certain movies that they will really enjoy. These chess movies can inspire them and bring them joy, fueling their desire to become better at chess.
Here are some chess movies I recommend that you can rent online or buy a copy of:
Recommended Reading: If you want to learn the best way to study chess, read this article.
Searching for Bobby Fischer
I've watched this movie several times; I like Searching for Bobby Fischer. This movie can inspire someone to learn chess and become good at it. This movie is based and inspired by actual events of Joshua Waitzkin story.
Joshua Waitzkin was considered a chess prodigy together with another child chess prodigy at that time named Jonathon Poe on that movie but later found out it was Jeff Sarwer.
I certainly was inspired to play better chess when I saw this movie, and I would undoubtedly love to gift this to my child or even for an adult.
Check Product Here: I recommend watching this movie Searching for Bobby Fischer with the whole family or with a group of friends who are into chess. Click here.
Queen of Katwe
The movie about Searching for Bobby Fischer I've seen it when I was in primary, but the movie Queen of Katwe is the one I've watched together with my daughter.
It's the story of Phiona Mutesi; they live in a poverty-stricken place in Uganda where she and her brother help their mother sell maize on the street. It's a beautiful true story where Phiona developed an interest in learning chess because of his younger brother and through a coach mentoring them how to play chess.
This can be another inspiring story about how a young unknowing protagonist becomes a chess champion and gives hope to her family.
Check Product Here: I recommend you buying this movie Queen of Katwe and at the same time watch this movie together with your family, click here.
Life of a King
This is another true story (I like to watch true story films) about an ex-convict who made it his goal to keep teens and children away from illegal activities. How he did that? The only way he thought of helping was to teach kids chess to avoid getting into gangs, drugs and all those illegal stuff.
I like his story too, and his advocacy of helping parents and kids live a better life – he started a chess club, and if you try and Google Eugene Brown, you will see the website of the chess club named Big Chair Chess Club.
You can also show your support to that website by donating any amount by clicking the link “How You Can Help?” in the bigchairchessclub.org menu.
Check Product Here: If you want to purchase the movie Life of a King, click here.
Magnus
This is the story of Magnus Carlsen's rise to becoming a World Chess Champion, defeating Viswanathan Anand.
Any chess enthusiast would like to learn the beginning or how a great Grandmaster like Magnus Carlsen started. The whole documentary was ok, and I was expecting more from this. But it was enough to get someone inspired and maybe give them a boost to start their kids' chess journey as young as six years old.
I wished I started as early as six years old, and never stopped… 🙂
Check Product Here: If you have kids and want to get them inspired by Magnus Carlsen's chess success story, you can watch the movie by clicking here.
Bobby Fischer Against the World
I've watched this excellent documentary of one of the greatest American chess player Bobby Fischer.
I like the storyline and the build-up of the suspense game between the USA and Russian chess player. For a big fan of Bobby Fischer, this should be on their list of chess movies to watch. The documentary depicts Bobby Fischer's love for chess at a young age, and somehow it also shows how chess affected his personal life and eventually lead him to self-destruct.
I felt the movie taught me something special and it was a good experience for me, especially the psychological tactics he was “trying” to implement with Spassky during the World Chess Championship.
The story seems to evolve in Bobby Fischer's obsession to solve every problem he encounters both in chess and in his own life.
Check Product Here: If you want to watch this movie Bobby Fischer Against the World, click here.
Pawn Sacrifice
This movie almost tells the same story as the “Bobby Fischer Against the World” documentary. There are some good and bad reviews about the movie, but for chess enthusiasts and fans of Bobby Fischer, this movie will satisfy their desire to learn more about the life of the great Bobby Fischer.
This movie will be an excellent addition to a chess enthusiasts collection of chess movies. So, there you go this is some of the interesting chess movies that you can gift to a friend or family who is into chess. Check Pawn Sacrifice on Amazon
Check Product Here: If you want to watch this movie Pawn Sacrifice, click here.
Unusual Chess Gift Ideas # 2: Online Chess Platforms
Have you ever bought a gift online? Most people have! We often choose physical products, but sometimes it can be tough to find the perfect gift. If you're having trouble picking a physical item, I have a great suggestion: give chess lovers a subscription to an online chess platform!
What is a subscription?
A subscription is like a ticket that lets someone use a service for a certain time. You don’t have to pay forever; you can choose to gift a subscription for one year, six months, or even just one month.
The person who receives your gift can decide if they want to keep using the service after the subscription ends. Wouldn’t you love to get an online chess subscription as a gift? I know I would!
Any chess fan would be excited to have access to an online chess platform. They can learn and play more chess. Consider gifting a subscription to brighten a chess enthusiast’s day! Here are some online chess platforms you can check out for gift subscriptions:
Chess.com
Chess.com is one of the biggest websites for chess players of all levels. It has many fun features, like a forum and social networking options. I mostly use it to play chess online and learn new strategies from chess experts.
This platform has everything you need: tutorials, practice games, puzzles, and even analysis of your games. You can find lots of chess-related content on Chess.com, and I think it's a great resource.
I recommend Chess.com for anyone who loves chess. It's also a wonderful gift idea for friends or family who enjoy the game!
The monthly plans are affordable, too. If you’re looking for a gift for a chess fan, Chess.com would be a fantastic choice!
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online platform, click here.
Chesskid.com
This is a fun online chess platform designed for kids called chesskid.com. Many great chess players started playing when they were young, so this website is perfect for kids learning the game.
I signed my daughter up on chesskid.com, and she really enjoys playing against live opponents or a chess robot. It's free to register, but if you want to unlock all the features and make learning even more fun for your kids, you can get a membership plan.
You can choose a membership for one month or even a whole year. A membership is great for anyone who loves chess, especially those who are just starting. Check out this online chess platform and see if it would make a good gift! 🙂
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online platform, click here.
Learningchess.net
This is a great package for learning chess! I've noticed a lot of improvement and had plenty of practice. This resource is perfect for everyone, whether you're a beginner, a student, or even someone like me who wants to teach their child how to play chess.
LearningChess.net has organized the topics so that different types of learners can find what they need easily. If you love chess, this site is just right for you. You won’t get confused because everything is easy to find.
When you click “Get Started,” you will go to a page where you can choose which lessons to learn. It shows you the links you need to click on.
This online chess learning platform is an excellent gift and has a very low yearly price. I recommend checking it out for yourself. It’s one of the best modern-looking chess platforms I’ve found, and both the design and lessons are current.
Just remember, when you sign up or buy a plan, have an email address ready to send to the person you are gifting the membership to. Even if you haven’t sent the sign-up details yet, it will still work. Either way, it’s an interesting chess gift!
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online platform, click here.
Unusual Chess Gift Ideas # 3: Online Chess Courses
The best thing about being enthusiastic about something is that we appreciate anything and everything about that passion or hobby.
For a chess enthusiast, we can always surprise them with something special; most of the time different but beneficial online chess courses… Gift them with something that will excite them, not only physical chess products, not any online chess platform to play but something that they can use and get a lot of learning from real and experienced chess masters.
Here is some online chess course that can ignite your enthusiastic friend's interest by merely learning from chess grandmasters.
Masterclass with Garry Kasparov
The Masterclass is just like any other online course platform, except the instructors are famous actors, singers, athletes, and in other popular fields. The one that caught my attention is they have an online course for chess, and the instructor is none other than Garry Kasparov.
Now, who wouldn't want to learn from one of the greatest chess players of all time? A chess enthusiast would love to get a hold of this online course, only because Grandmaster Garry Kasparov is teaching it.
This can be an excellent gift you can give to your friends or family who knows Garry Kasparov.
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online chess course, click here.
Chessbase Online Chess Courses by the greatest chess players
If you want to gift an online course where they can learn and watch the most important game from the oldest and newest chess game… Chessbase is the site you can explore, this site has a wide variety of chess related information and sells online chess courses that explain chess games of the greatest Chessmasters.
The only downside is you cannot just sign up and access the website immediately. I tried a few times but have no success. But that did not give me any reason not to recommend this as an interesting chess gift for chess enthusiasts… 🙂
Just got to Chessbase.com and have a look of the chess-related offers that you can purchase as a gift.
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online chess course, click here.
Chess-teacher teaches the psychology of chess
Want to surprise a chess enthusiast about psychology to the game of chess? Sounds interesting? It can be interesting for a chess enthusiast when they hear about this “psychology learning” of chess… Especially if they have been playing chess for quite a while, they will be interested in learning from a Grandmaster with a Master's degree in Psychology.
There are different online courses that you can gift a chess enthusiast on this website, and almost all of the online courses are quite promising.
Give this one a shot and purchase the online course from chess-teacher.com as a gift.
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online chess course, click here.
Chessmasterschool the professional services
This website gives you the feeling of more professional chess learning services… Chessmasterschool doesn't need to introduce themselves as a chess learning website, but actually, they tell you upfront that they have some courses to sell you.
They include monthly payment and full 13-month course, I went and had a look at their free sample courses, and I do like that it's on a text format – which we can just easily print and read it when we have time.
As a gift to a chess enthusiast, this will still be a handy resource and can help them improve their chess game by going through the text format type of lessons.
Disclaimer: I have not gone through the whole program, but the website does seem to carry a lot of authority in chess. This can be valuable as a gift to a chess enthusiast.
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online chess course, click here.
iChess.net massive collections of historical chess plays
Maybe one of the most popular chess websites is iChess.net… There are a lot of courses on this site, and I do consider the site more of an e-commerce site for online chess courses. But we are here to find interesting chess gifts…
I'm giving you chess gift ideas for online chess courses that are being taught by the chess masters. iChess.net has a lot of interesting and valuable chess online courses…(sorry cannot go through all of them) and I am sure that chess masters are teaching the online courses.
You can browse through the products they are selling and pick the one that you can afford( courses are bit costly compared to other sites), and you think will be most useful for the person you are giving it…
Check Product Here: If you want to gift this online chess course, click here.
Wrapping Up
You don’t have to pick just one gift. You can choose items from different categories and bundle them together. If you want to give a collection of chess movies, just get all the movies mentioned above, pack them nicely, and you’ll have a great gift that any chess fan will love!
For online courses, it can be a fun surprise because they can access them on their computers. The same goes for subscription gifts!
If you’re looking for a unique gift for yourself, your kids, or anyone in your family, check out the list and pick one or three items. I’m sure they will appreciate whatever you choose!
I hope this idea helps you, and maybe the list inspires you to think of more interesting gifts for a chess lover! Enjoy!
