Word.ws English Dictionary

hope chess

hope chess noun: play that relies on hoping one's opponent blunders or does not find a tactic.

Noun

hope chess (uncountable)

  1. Play that relies on hoping one's opponent blunders or does not find a tactic.
    • No Hope Chess – do not place a piece on these squares hoping that your opponent will do something dumb.2010, Joel Johnson, Formation Attacks, →ISBN, page 245
    • I have told many a kiddie not to play 'hope chess'. The term, coined by my good friend Hall-of-Fame Grandmaster John Fedorowicz, suggests that you should play moves you will be comfortable with if your opponent makes the best reply.2018, Joel Benjamin, Better Thinking, Better Chess, →ISBN, page 190

Examples of hope chess in a sentence

  • I've been doing something that Coach Shawn calls “hope chess.” That's when you just play any move and hope it works.2020, Tanitoluwa Adewumi, My Name Is Tani … and I Believe in Miracles Young Readers Edition, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 95:
  • It is not too late for the Candidate Master to regroup, but waiting for your opponent to make a blunder is hope chess and usually does not work well.2020, Alex Dunne, How to Become a Candidate Master: A Practical Guide to Take Your Chess to the Next Level, New In Chess, →ISBN:

Questions about hope chess

What does hope chess mean?
Hope chess means play that relies on hoping one's opponent blunders or does not find a tactic.
How do you use hope chess in a sentence?
I've been doing something that Coach Shawn calls “hope chess.” That's when you just play any move and hope it works.
What part of speech is hope chess?
Hope chess is a noun.

Words near hope chess in the dictionary

  1. Hopcroft
  2. Hopcroft's algorithm
  3. hope
  4. hope against hope
  5. Hope Cay
  6. hope chess
  7. hope chest
  8. hope chests
  9. hope for the best, prepare for the worst
  10. hope springs eternal
  11. hope springs eternal in the human breast

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hope 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.

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