chess

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈches 

: a game for 2 players each of whom moves 16 pieces according to fixed rules across a checkerboard and tries to checkmate the opponent's king

Illustration of chess

• chessboard with chess pieces arranged as at the beginning of a game

chess

2 of 2

noun (2)

1

: a weedy annual European bromegrass (Bromus secalinus) widely naturalized in North America as a weed especially in grain

2

: any of several weedy bromegrasses related to chess

Examples of chess in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Mayfield admired the chess match Warner played last game with Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, whose visual cues tried to throw off Warner’s tracking sense. —Cam Inman, Mercury News, 11 Oct. 2025

Football, to steal a cliché, is like Kuhr's chess board. —Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025

In a promotional video, the founder showed off an office chess set, beers brewed from lurid blue Yunnan mushrooms and a small library stocked with quantum mechanics textbooks. —Lavender Au, The Dial, 7 Oct. 2025

Like, [football] is violent chess. —Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 7 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English chesse, ches, esches, borrowed from Anglo-French escheks, eschez "game of chess" — more at check entry 2

Noun (2)

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1736, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing chess

• chess pie

Rhymes for chess

• bless
• cress
• dress
• es
• ess
• esse
• fess
• guess
• jess
• less
• lesse
• mess

Kids Definition

chess

noun

ˈches

: a game for two players each of whom plays with 16 pieces on a checkerboard

Etymology

Noun

Middle English ches "game of chess," from early French eschés (same meaning), literally, "checks," from eschec "check" — related to check, checker