The book Chess Variants & Games for Intellectual Development and Amusement by A.V. Murali has nothing to do with the game of chess as we know it. Rather, it is an imaginative attempt to create chess variants with triagonals instead of diagonals, and to use chess in education to teach language, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and more.
There are sports related games involving chess for basketball, table tennis, squash, cricket, and volleyball.
Would you like to solve a chess crossword puzzle or a chess sudoku?
In the preface, the author explains "how the idea of writing this book occurred to me. It all started when I happened to walk along a pavement tiled with stones in the shape of a hexagon." This inspired him to wonder whether chess can be played on a hexagonal board and to consider various other geometries, as well.
Time and again, I was impressed by the amount of independent thinking and research in this book.