chess
/t͡ʃɛs/
chess noun: a board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king.
Noun (1)
chess (usually uncountable, plural chesses)
- A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king.
- At the tender age of 20, Penguingm1 is already one of the best hyperbullet and ultrabullet chess players in the world.2020 October 1, Aaron Alford, “Cloud9 signs grandmaster chess player Penguingm1”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2021
- FIDE appeals to all chess players and federations to accept this view.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, archived from the original on 16 Mar 2025, page 2
- Synonyms:
- international chess, Western chess
Noun (2)
chess (plural chesses)
Noun (3)
chess (plural chesses)
- One of the platforms, consisting of two or more planks dowelled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge.
- the balks are laid and covered with chesses to within 1 foot of the trestle1881, Thomas Wilhelm, A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
- ach chess consists of three planks.1885, Edward S. Farrow, Farrow's Military Encyclopedia; A Dictionary of Military Knowledge
Proper noun capitalized: Chess
Chess
- A surname.
- A river in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, England, which joins the Colne at Rickmansworth.
chess meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
chess in Hindi
- two-player board game
- शतरंज śatrañj, चेस ces, शतरञ्ज śatrañj, बुद्धिद्यूत buddhidyūt, सतरंज satrañj, सतरञ्ज satrañj
chess in Tamil
- two-player board game
- சதுரங்கம் caturaṅkam, செஸ் ces
chess in Marathi
- two-player board game
- बुद्धिबळ buddhibaḷ
chess in Urdu
- two-player board game
- شَطْرَن٘ج śatrañj, چیس ces
More languagesFewer languages
- chess in Bengali
- দাবা daba
- chess in Telugu
- చతురంగము caturaṅgamu, చదరంగము cadaraṅgamu
- chess in Malayalam
- ചെസ്സ് cessŭ, ചതുരംഗം caturaṅgaṁ
- chess in Kannada
- ಚದುರಂಗ caduraṅga, ಚೆಸ್ ces
- chess in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ਤਰੰਜ śatrañj
- chess in Gujarati
- ચેસ ces
- chess in Odia
- ସତରଞ୍ଜ satarañja
- chess in Sanskrit
- चतुरङ्ग caturaṅga
- chess in Sinhala
- පාද ක්රීඩාව pāda krīḍāwa
- chess in Assamese
- দবাখেল dobakhel
- chess in Nepali
- बुद्धिचाल buddhicāl
- chess in Pashto
- سترنج satranj, سطرنج satranj
- chess in Tagalog
- satol, ahedres, tses
- chess in Arabic
- شَطْرَنْج šaṭranj, شِطْرَنْج šiṭranj
- chess in Malay
- catur, sekak
- chess in Indonesian
- catur
- chess in Thai
- หมากรุก màak-rúk
- chess in Vietnamese
- cờ vua
- chess in Myanmar
- စစ်တုရင် cactu.rang
- Dhivehi
- ރާޒުވާ rāzuvā
- Dzongkha
- དམག་རྩེད dmag rtsed
Examples of chess in a sentence
- The black pieces in this chess set are made of dark blue glass.
- I used to be a great chess player but I've lost my touch.
- A handicap in chess often involves removal of the queen's rook.
Synonyms of chess
Forms of chess
| plural | chesses |
|---|
Origin of chess
From Middle English ches, chesse, from Old French eschés, plural of eschec, from Medieval Latin scaccus, from Arabic شَاه (šāh, “king [in chess]”), from Classical Persian شاه (šāh, “shah, king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (mlkʾ /šāh/), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /xšāyaθiya/). Compare German Schach and Italian scacchi. Compare French échecs (“chess”) and its descendants: Catalan escacs and Dutch schaak. More at check and shah (“king of Persia or Iran”).
Uncertain; perhaps linked to Etymology 1, above, from the sense of being arranged in rows or lines.
Compare French châssis (“a framework of carpentry”).
Words formed from chess
- 0-dimensional chess
- zero-dimensional chess
- 10D chess
- 11D chess
- 12D chess
- 3-D chess
- 3D chess
- 4D chess
- 5D chess
- 6D chess
- 7D chess
- 8D chess
- 9D chess
- Absolute Rettah chess
- Advancing chess
- Alice chess
- Ambi-chess
- antichess
- Armageddon chess
- atomic chess
- Black and White chess
- blindfold chess
- blitz chess
- Blot-straight chess
- bughouse chess
- bullet chess
- Burmese chess
- Capablanca chess
- Capablanca's chess
- Capricorn chess
- capture chess
- Cheshire Cat chess
- Chess960
- chess-apple
- chessboard
- chess boxer
- chessboxer
- chessboxing
- chess boxing
- chess cake
- chess clock
- chessdom
- chess engine
- chessic
- chessist
- chess-like
- chesslike
- chess-man
- chessman
- chessmaster
- chess master
- chess pie
- chesspiece
- chess piece
- chess-piece
- chess player
- chessplayer
- chess-playing
- chess-rating
- chess set
Phrases with chess
- 4-D chess
- chess pies
- chess sets
- chess tart
- hope chess
- Thai chess
- chess board
- chess cakes
- chess tarts
- chess timer
- fairy chess
- rapid chess
31 more phrasesFewer phrases
- robot chess
- speed chess
- chess boards
- chess boxers
- chess clocks
- chess pieces
- chess timers
- Korean chess
- Manchu chess
- Vulcan chess
- chess engines
- chess masters
- chess players
- Chinese chess
- Russian chess
- Western chess
- computer chess
- Japanese chess
- classical chess
- lightning chess
- mad queen chess
- Los Alamos chess
- hyperbullet chess
- ultrabullet chess
- international chess
- n-dimensional chess
- correspondence chess
- Fischer random chess
- four-dimensional chess
- multi-dimensional chess
- three-dimensional chess
Words that rhyme with chess
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- SMS
- success
- compress
- largesse
- ness
- profess
- confess
- distress
- regress
- depress
- excess
- guess
- prepossess
- undress
- CBS
- ingress
- oppress
- redress
- transgress
- assess
- cess
- duress
- fess
- fluoresce
- Hesse
- less
- mayoress
- obsess
- tress
- unless
- yes
- accresce
- acquiesce
- aggress
- BESS
- caress
- clothes press
- congress
- defervesce
- digress
- ess
- foulness
- Hess
- intumesce
- jess
- lazy S
- liquesce
- repress
Questions about chess
- What does chess mean?
- Chess means a board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king.
- What is chess in Hindi?
- Chess in Hindi is शतरंज (śatrañj), चेस (ces), शतरञ्ज (śatrañj). See Chess meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is chess?
- Chess can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce chess?
- Chess is pronounced /t͡ʃɛs/.
- What is the plural of chess?
- The plural of chess is chesses.
Words near chess in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chess (page history and authors); Chess (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-chess.ogg.
Cite this entry: “chess.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chess. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.