Unique chess gifts: ideas that aren't another chessboard

A unique gift for someone who plays chess is almost never another board: it is something they don't have and can't pick up in any shop. A lesson with a grandmaster, a master who answers questions about their own games, a course on the player they admire or their best game framed on the wall are gifts people remember, because they were chosen for that one person.

Below, the ideas are grouped by what they give — an experience, something made for them, something to play better with — and, at the end, how to hand them over so the moment is a surprise too. If you are after the classics, such as a set, a clock or a book, there is our guide to gifts for chess players by level.

Why another chessboard won't surprise them

Search for a chess gift and almost everything you find is an object: designer boards, mugs, T-shirts with a knight on them, metal pieces for the shelf. They can work for someone who likes chess from a distance, but anyone who really plays already has something to play with, and they usually chose it carefully.

What they rarely have is time with someone who knows far more than they do, an answer about the game they lost last week, or the story of their favourite player told from the inside. That is where originality lies: in giving something they would never buy for themselves, or would never have thought could be bought.

One rule covers everything that follows: the more personal, the more original. Any course is a good present; a course on the player they imitate over the board shows that you thought about them.

An experience with a master

A lesson with a grandmaster

Few amateurs have ever had a whole hour with a grandmaster looking at their games. It is the kind of gift nobody forgets: the master asks how they think, goes through one of their games and shows them two or three things they will use for years.

These lessons now happen by video call, so distance doesn't matter. In online lessons there are grandmasters and international masters who teach every level, and how to choose a chess coach covers what to look for before deciding. It is better to give several lessons than just one: the first is for getting to know each other, and from the second onwards they work on what really holds them back.

Giving lessons has one more advantage: you don't have to guess anyone's diary. You choose the coach, the length and how many lessons, and the other person books each one whenever it suits them.

A grandmaster to answer their questions

Anyone who studies chess on their own piles up unanswered questions: a move in an annotated game they don't understand, one of their own games they lost without knowing where. Some course plans include exactly that. With Ask the GM, they stop on any move in a lesson, write their question — or try their own line by moving the pieces — and a grandmaster replies with a variation to step through on the board. They can send their own games too.

It is a rare gift in the best sense: hardly any amateur has someone to ask, and they will use it every time something doesn't add up.

A live class with other players

For someone who enjoys chess as a social thing, a live class is very different from a recorded lesson: a master explains in the moment, other players ask questions and the class takes shape together. Some plans include live group classes, and you can also give a place on a live course, with its start date and its sessions.

Something made for them

A course on the player they admire

Almost every player has a hero, and it usually shows in how they play. Someone who is always sacrificing pieces probably loves Mikhail Tal, world champion in 1960 and one of the most celebrated attackers in history (the reasons are in his story). For that person, Mikhail Tal's Legacy explores his boldest ideas for attacking, sacrificing and creating complications without losing control of the position.

There is an even rarer gift: having the games explained by the person who played them. In Creativity and Calculation with Alexei Shirov, Shirov himself analyses two of his best games and his famous endgame against Veselin Topalov. For a fan of attacking chess it is like getting a lesson from the author of their favourite book.

If you don't know who they admire, ask in passing which is the most beautiful game they have ever seen. The answer nearly always comes with a name.

Their best game, framed

This one can't be bought ready-made, which is exactly why it is so original. Find out — discreetly, or through someone at their club — which of their own games they like best and have it printed: a diagram of the decisive position, the moves written underneath, the date and the opponent's name. Framed, it is a picture that tells a story only they lived.

If they don't have a game of their own they would want on the wall, a famous one works too. The best known of all is the Immortal Game, which Adolf Anderssen won against Lionel Kieseritzky in London in 1851 after giving up both rooks, a bishop and his queen. Any player recognises it.

If you still want an object, make it personal

If you would rather give something to unwrap, let it carry their mark: pieces or a board engraved with their name, a scorebook with their initials, a clock with a dedication. What makes it original is not the object but the fact that it was made for them.

Something to play better all year

Months of membership to a course platform

For someone who wants to improve when you don't know what they study, a few months of membership settle the question: you give them access to the whole catalogue and they choose what helps them at each moment, whether that is an opening, endgames or calculation. It takes up no space, gets used every week and, depending on the plan, includes live classes and the chance to ask a grandmaster.

A tournament entry, or a simul

If they only play with friends or on their phone, paying the entry fee for a tournament in their city is a gift with a story attached: the first time they play with a clock, against strangers, writing the moves down. If they already compete, a simultaneous exhibition against a master — many clubs organise them from time to time — gives them something that doesn't come round often: playing a master who is spreading their attention across twenty boards, and perhaps holding them to a draw.

For someone who always wanted to learn

They don't need to play already for chess to be a good gift. If they have ever said "one day I must learn", a few lessons to start from scratch are among the most original gifts there are: you aren't giving an object, you are giving a new skill.

For an adult, a coach is what pays off most: in a handful of lessons they go from moving the pieces to playing with a plan. If they wonder whether they have left it too late, it is never too late to learn chess. And for a child, a coach who knows how to teach children matters more than anything else.

How to give it so the moment is original too

An online gift has an advantage a parcel doesn't: it can be given in many ways. You can give a course, lessons with a master or months of membership and then:

• Choose the day. They receive an email with your message on the day you pick — their birthday, for example — even if you are travelling or they live in another country.
• Hand it over in person. You get a code to print: hidden in the box of their chess set or inside a chess book, opening it is part of the surprise.
• Say why. "So you finally beat Grandad", "for your next tournament", "so you can teach me": the message is half the gift.

Three details that tend to worry the giver: the person receiving it doesn't need an account beforehand, they have a year to open it, and whatever it contains only starts counting from the day they open it.

What to avoid

• Decorative sets for someone who plays seriously. Glass pieces or unusual shapes look good on a shelf and bad in a game.
• Guessing the topic. A course on an opening they don't play is a mistake. If you don't know what they study, lessons or months of membership are better, because they leave the choice to the person receiving them.
• Anything that demands a level they don't have. An advanced treatise for a beginner never gets opened, and leaves the impression that chess is harder than it is.

In the end, what makes a gift original is not the price or the size of the parcel: it is showing that you thought about how the other person plays. Do that and any of these ideas will surprise them.