Oxford Essential Dictionary
chess
noun (no plural)
a game that two people play on a board with black and white squares on it (called a chessboard). Each player has sixteen pieces that can be moved around the board in different ways.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
chess
chess /tʃes/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: esches, plural of escec; ⇨ ↑check2]
a game for two players, who move their playing pieces according to particular rules across a special board to try to trap their opponent’s ↑king (=most important piece):
They meet fairly often to play chess.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ play chess Do you want to play chess?
■ chess + NOUN
▪ a chess player Today, many chess players have online games.
▪ a chess game/match Who won the chess game?
▪ a chess board (=with black and white squares on it) There was a chess board set up on the table.
▪ a chess piece (=one that you move around the board) Some of the chess pieces were missing.
▪ a chess set (=a complete group of the different chess pieces) She gave him a beautifully carved wooden chess set.
▪ a chess move You first have to learn the basic chess moves.
▪ a chess championship/tournament (=a chess competition) Ray's taking part in a chess tournament.
▪ a chess club a member of the school chess club
▪ a chess master (=a very skilled player) An eight year-old who can beat a chess master is remarkable.
▪ a chess grand master (=the highest title a chess player can get) Bobby Fischer was an American chess grandmaster.
▪ the chess world He's a star of the chess world.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
chess
chess [tʃes] [tʃes] noun
uncountable
a game for two people played on a board marked with black and white squares on which each playing piece (representing a king, queen, castle, etc.) is moved according to special rules. The aim is to put the other player's king in a position from which it cannot escape (= to checkmate it).
Word Origin:
[chess] Middle English: from Old French esches, plural of eschec ‘a check’ from medieval Latin scaccus, via Arabic from Persian šāh ‘king’.
Example Bank:
• a star of the chess world
• the position of the chess pieces on the board
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
chess / tʃes / noun [ U ]
A2 a game played by two people on a square board, in which each player has 16 pieces that can be moved on the board in different ways
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
chess
/tʃes/
Chess is a game for two people, played on a chessboard. Each player has 16 pieces, including a king. Your aim is to move your pieces so that your opponent’s king cannot escape being taken.
...the world chess championships.
N-UNCOUNT
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
chess
chess /ˈʧɛs/ noun [noncount] : a game for two players in which each player moves 16 pieces across a board and tries to place the opponent's king in a position from which it cannot escape
• We played (a game of) chess.
- often used before another noun
• a chess player/champion
• a chess match/tournament