chessboard

American  

[ches-bawrd, -bohrd] / ˈtʃɛsˌbɔrd, -ˌboʊrd /

noun

• chessboards
  plural

1. the board, identical with a checkerboard, used for playing chess.

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chessboard British  

/ ˈtʃɛsˌbɔːd /

noun

1. a square board divided into 64 squares of two alternating colours, used for playing chess or draughts

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• chessboards
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of chessboard

1400–50; late Middle English. See chess ¹, board

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chessboard chessboards

Imagine a large chessboard with a dot in the center of each square.

From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2026

Eventually, in the book’s climactic scene, he faces Mr. Carlsen again in a hybrid tournament, with a digital chessboard, a live audience and extensive security precautions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

“If you move one piece on the chessboard, it changes everything for your next move,” she says.

From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025

Small wonder, then, that her most reliable companion is an AI-powered chessboard, which offers direct answers to her most pressing questions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2025

Walowick had put the chessboard on a box, and we started setting up the pieces.

From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers

YORK, England — Pints in hand, a group of men sat hunched over chessboards under the sloping ceiling beams of the Eagle and Child pub in York, in northern England.

From New York Times ● Aug. 13, 2022

Nine of the brand’s U.S.-based hotels offer a selection of chessboards that can be sent up to guests’ rooms.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2022

Before “Fortnite,” “Minecraft,” “Myst,” “Tetris” and “Pong” there were backyard baseball diamonds, chessboards and hopscotch tiles etched or placed on the ground.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2020

There are footballs, golf balls, softballs, chessboards, Legos–everything a curious kid could dream of–covering our office space.

From Time ● Nov. 2, 2015

There are several chessboards with missing pieces, and pieces without boards of their own lined up on windowsills and bookshelves.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

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