Chess definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (16)

American Heritage Dictionary (3)

noun A board game for two players, each beginning with 16 pieces of six kinds that are moved according to individual rules, with the objective of checkmating the opposing king.
noun Any of several species of brome grass, especially the cheat.
noun One of the floorboards of a pontoon bridge.

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A very ancient game played by two persons or parties with thirty-two pieces on a checkered board divided into sixty-four squares. The squares are alternately light and dark, and in beginning a game the board must be so placed that the square at the right-hand corner is a light one. The vertical rows of squares are called files, those which run from right to left, ranks or lines, and those (of the same color) which run obliquely, diagonals. Each party has sixteen pieces, differently colored to distinguish those of one side from those of the other, viz., a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, and two rooks or castles, placed on the squares of the end line of the board, and eight pawns placed on the next line in front. The king and queen are placed on the two middle squares, the queen on her own color (light or dark), and by the side of each are placed a bishop, a knight, and a rook, in this order. The pieces move according to certain laws over unoccupied squares, the knight alone being free from this latter restriction (see below). The king moves one square in any direction (except into check); the queen in any direction and to any distance along the rows of squares, and also along the diagonals; the rooks or castles in any direction along the files or ranks of squares; the bishops (of which there is one on each color) in any direction along the diagonals of the color on which they are originally placed; the knights one square on one row and then two squares on the row at right angles to it (or two squares and then one) in any direction, without reference to interposing pieces; and the pawns one square ahead on the files. A piece is taken by removing it from the board and placing the capturing piece in its place. In taking, each piece makes some one of its ordinary moves, except the pawn, which takes by moving one square forward on a diagonal; the knight alone can take by jumping over an intervening piece. The object of the game is to capture the king of the opposing party; and this is effected by an attack so planned that it is impossible, either by moving the opposing king or by interposing another piece, to prevent him from being taken on the next move — that is, by placing the opposing king in a check from which he cannot escape. (See check, checkmate, and stalemate.) The squares of the board are commonly numbered along the files, forward from either party, from the principal pieces placed upon them at the beginning of a game: as, the queen's rook's square (abbreviated Q. R. sq.), queen's rook's second square (Q. R. 2), etc. Four and twenty ladies fair Were playing at the chess. The Young Tamlane (Child's Ballads, I. 117). Chess has been known to the Chinese for many centuries under a form not very unlike our own game. The board has 64 squares, is played with 16 men on each side, the two at the corners having equal power, and the next two (called horses) having a move equivalent to that of our knight. The chief differences are that the Chinese adversaries are separated by a river, over which some pieces cannot pass, while the “King” is confined to a square of nine moves only; and that the pieces are placed upon the intersections of the lines forming the board, instead of on the squares. Giles, Glossary of Reference, p. 38. The origin of the game of chess is lost in obscurity, a fact which has rather invited than repelled learned speculations on the subject. The invention of the pastime has been variously ascribed to the Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, Scythians, Egyptians, Jews, Persians, Chinese, Hindus, Arabians, Araucanians, Castilians, Irish, and Welsh. Encyc. Brit., V. 596.
Chess-type printing-type made to illustrate the game of chess.
The common name in the United States of several species of Bromus, especially B. secalinus, which bears some resemblance to oats, and is frequently more or less abundant as a weed in wheat-fields. Also called cheat.

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At the club he played chess--at which he was excellent--and conversed. — The Lost Girl
They have sorts of games, some like our chess, and cards, and lotto, and we saw the lads in the streets playing ball very much as boys do in an English country village As we did not go to the capital, I cannot describe it. — A Voyage round the World A book for boys
I am very fond of playing chess, and I find that I do not play so well after a sitting--that's all.' — The Shadow World
Van Buren studied the game like a chess-player, taking knights and pawns with the ease of a skilful mover. — A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3
To some the world is like a chess-board, where each man plays a selfish game, and tries to overreach his neighbour. — The Life of Duty, v. 2 A year's plain sermons on the Gospels or Epistles

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