Chesses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A strategic board game played on an 8x8 grid, involving unique pieces for each player that move in distinct manners
2. A variant or plural form of the traditional game that can encompass different styles or rule sets
3. Engagement in various games that derive from the original format, showcasing different tactics and competitions

Etymology: "Chesses" is simply the plural of "chess," so its story is really the story of the game's name. That name travelled a long way: from Old Persian "xšāyaθiya," meaning king, through Middle Persian and Arabic "shāh," into medieval Latin as "scaccus," and then into Old French as "eschec," whose plural "eschés" gave English the Middle English "ches." The word for a game was, at heart, a word for the most important piece on the board. The Arabic sense "king in chess" shows the link clearly: when the game passed westward, the Persian royal title went with it, and European languages still carry echoes of that journey. German has "Schach," Italian "scacchi," and French "échecs," the last of which also gave the English word "check," the warning that the king is under attack. Ordinary English speakers rarely connect those two words, yet they share the same ancestor.