Free · official rules
FIDE Laws of Chess
The authoritative laws for over-the-board chess. Best when a rule or tournament question needs settling.
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Learn and practise
Free
Lichess practice
Interactive lessons, puzzles, studies and games without needing to buy a course.
Free tier
Chess.com lessons and puzzles
A beginner-friendly route with lessons, puzzles, bots and live games. Some features have daily limits.
Children
ChessKid
Lessons and play designed for children, with parent and school options.
UK community
English Chess Federation
Find clubs, events, ratings and information about organised chess in England.
Use with the app
Aletheia study routine
Play a position, ask for a HINT, explain your own candidate move, then use A‑PROMPT SEARCH to compare the nine VIBEs. Check the returned move before entering it.
Books for learning chess
Book availability and prices change. Bookshop.org links support independent bookshops and are suitable for conversion to your own Bookshop affiliate links.
Beginner
How to Win at Chess
Levy Rozman’s visual, approachable introduction for beginners and improving players.
Beginner · reference
The Chess Player’s Bible
A compact reference covering the board, notation, tactics and strategy.
Beginner tactics
Can I Take It?
A focused introduction to captures, checks and the thinking habits that prevent simple mistakes.
Children
Chess Tactics for Kids
Murray Chandler’s puzzle-led introduction to common tactical patterns.
Classic study
Logical Chess: Move by Move
Explains the purpose behind moves in complete games—useful for players who know the rules but not yet the plans.
Tactics
Learn Chess Tactics
John Nunn’s systematic guide to tactical motifs and calculation.
Endgames
Practical Chess Endings
Paul Keres on the positions and techniques that decide real games.
Game collection
My 60 Memorable Games
Bobby Fischer’s annotated games; better for an established player than a first-ever chess book.
Chess sets: choose by how they will be used
Best first set
Weighted Staunton club set
Clear pieces, a roll-up board and spare queens make the most useful set for learning, clubs and travel. Look for a king around 3.5–3.75 inches and matching square size.
Small budget
Folding or magnetic travel set
Choose pieces that store securely and remain distinguishable at a glance. Tiny decorative sets can be frustrating to play.
Home gift
Wooden set with storage
A practical upgrade: weighted pieces, felt bases, algebraic coordinates and space for two queens per colour.
British character
Isle of Lewis-style set
Distinctive historical pieces make a handsome gift, although conventional Staunton pieces are easier for serious play.
Modern design
Skyline city chess
Architecture replaces traditional pieces—excellent as an object and conversation starter, less ideal for tournament practice.
Luxury
Hand-carved wooden set
Check the wood species, weighting, king height, board size, returns and replacement-piece policy before spending heavily.
Decorative
Glass, crystal or stone-effect set
Beautiful in good light, but transparent pieces can be hard to distinguish. “Crystal” often means optical glass rather than natural quartz—check the material description.
Garden or event
Giant outdoor chess
A memorable family, school, pub or community gift. Check storage, weather resistance, board footprint and piece weight.
Alice through the chessboard
Through the Looking-Glass, rather than the first Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is built around chess. The countryside is an enormous board. Alice replaces Lily as the White Queen’s Pawn on the second rank, travels towards the eighth rank, becomes a Queen and helps produce checkmate.
The original game
White Pawn to play and win in eleven moves
Lewis Carroll printed a starting diagram and move schedule. It is a literary journey expressed through legal chess events, not a normal competitive game: the sides do not always alternate strictly and the story’s “castling” of three queens means entering the palace.
Load the original position
Alice starting-position FEN
6n1/8/2K5/5N2/4k3/8/3Pq3/2Q2R2 w - - 0 1
Paste this into Aletheia Chess’s FEN box to display Carroll’s starting diagram. Alice is the White Pawn on d2. This recreates the position only; the app’s normal turn checker cannot reproduce the complete literary schedule because Carroll does not alternate Red and White consistently.
Future side idea
Follow Alice mode
A guided story mode could load the FEN, highlight Alice’s route from d2 to d8, promote her to Queen, and display the matching chapter encounter at each stage. It should be labelled a literary reconstruction rather than an ordinary legal chess game.
What the pieces looked like
Tenniel’s living chess characters
In the original illustrations, the Red and White royalty, knights, pawns and castles are characterful figures rather than plain Staunton men. Alice herself is the pawn-character, later crowned as a queen. Modern themed sets usually map the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, queens and other characters onto ordinary chess roles.
Collector choice
Studio Anne Carlton handmade set
A UK-made crushed-stone/resin character set, available painted or unpainted. It is a substantial collector purchase and the board may be sold separately, so check exactly what is included.
UK specialists
Compare themed versions
ChessBaron and Hoyle’s of Oxford list Alice character pieces or sets. Compare piece material, king height, board inclusion and delivery before choosing.
Marketplace · changing stock
eBay and Amazon
Useful for discontinued Gibsons, Berkeley and Studio Anne Carlton sets as well as replacement pieces. Treat “rare”, “complete” and “authentic” as seller claims: check all 32 pieces, the board, condition, postage and returns.
Marketplace caution
AliExpress
AliExpress search results vary by account and location, and I could not verify a stable dedicated Alice chess-set listing. If one appears, check buyer photographs, dimensions, piece count, material, delivery date, returns and whether the character artwork is legitimately licensed.
Useful and unusual gifts for chess players
Chess clock
A digital clock with increment/delay settings is useful for club play. Confirm that the buttons and display are easy to operate.
Scorebook and notation pen
An inexpensive gift that encourages players to review their own games.
Puzzle calendar or workbook
A position a day is less intimidating than a large course and makes a good stocking filler.
Travel set or board bag
Useful for cafés, holidays and clubs. Measure the board before buying a carry bag.
Personalised board or engraved box
Best for a milestone birthday, retirement, tournament win or club presentation.
Chess jewellery and cufflinks
Knights are recognisable; queen and king pairs work well as understated gifts.
Mug, coaster or desk ornament
A safe choice when you do not know the player’s preferred board size or chess-book level.
Chess art or poster
Consider patent diagrams, famous positions, minimalist boards or a personalised game score.
Chess T-shirts and hats
Check garment measurements and whether the design is original or properly licensed.
Experience gift
Club membership, tournament entry, a coaching session or a day at a chess event can outlast another object.
Funny chess gifts—with the joke on the board, not the player
Original slogan ideas suitable for commissioning on a shirt, mug or cap. Check a print marketplace’s intellectual-property rules before selling them.
“I play chess. My blunders have a strategic plan.”
“Knight shift.”
“Ask me about my deeply suspicious pawn structure.”
“I came. I saw. I forgot en passant.”
“The position is completely winning. Unfortunately, it is my move.”
“Quiet please. The pawns are plotting.”
Discworld detour
Thud—the genuine Terry Pratchett connection
Thud is an asymmetric Discworld strategy game of trolls and dwarfs. It is chess-adjacent rather than chess, but it makes a much better Pratchett gift than an invented quotation.
For people who like chess and cats
Cat-and-chess gifts for humans
A cat knocking over a king, sleeping on a board or acting as an unimpressed arbiter can work on mugs, prints, shirts and cushions.
Pet-safe photo idea
Use a lightweight breakaway collar charm, chess-pattern blanket or a board placed nearby. Photograph the cat choosing whether to participate—as cats traditionally do.
Avoid chess-piece costumes
Do not recommend restrictive hats, capes, elastic loops, dangling pieces or anything that impairs movement, hearing, sight, breathing or grooming. Never leave a dressed pet unattended.
Affiliate-ready shop research
For the site owner: Bookshop.org UK offers a direct affiliate programme for books. Awin currently lists chess-related merchants including ChessHouse, The Chess Store, Skyline Chess and Big Game Hunters. Replace only the links marked affiliate-ready after approval, and retain the disclosure above. Waterstones remains a useful retailer, but no clear current public affiliate application was verified during this review.