/t͡ʃɛs/
OriginFrom 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”).
- uncountable, usuallyA 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.”
“FIDE appeals to all chess players and federations to accept this view.”
- USAny of several species of grass in the genus Bromus, generally considered weeds.
“Hobbled, loudly gourmandizing the dry chess grass, they were guarded by a pair of dismounted soldiers in long, dusty coats [...].”
- in-pluralOne 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 trestle”
“ach chess consists of three planks.”
- A surname.
- A river in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, England, which joins the Colne at Rickmansworth.
Formschesses(plural)