[alasdair_]

This is a fantastic book.

I have little interest in actually playing chess - I far prefer games with hidden information, some luck and the ability for the rules of the game themselves to be changed - but as someone who loves games in general, this is exactly what I've been looking for to understand chess theory.

It's basically all the interesting bits of chess, without the stuff that demands memorization of opening moves or that can be otherwise handled better by a computer than a human.

[koide]

There are lots of chess variants that can be interesting as well, some have a component of luck, and all are bending of the rules. Hidden information is the thing they lack, though.

Fischer Random Chess, Antichess, Atomic Chess and Crazyhouse are some of the most popular.