How to Say "Chess" in Chinese

象棋

xiàngqí

In Chinese, the word for chess is 象棋 (xiàngqí). Wiktionary also lists 國際象棋 / 国际象棋 (guójì xiàngqí) and 西洋棋 (xīyángqí).

Meaning: two-player board game (noun)

Ways to say it

The term 國際象棋 literally translates to 'international chess', while 西洋棋 literally translates to 'Western chess'.

To specify Western chess, you should use 國際象棋 in Mainland China or 西洋棋 in Taiwan.

In Mainland China, the term 國際象棋 is used for Western chess. In Taiwan, 西洋棋 is the standard term for Western chess.

xiàngqí

While 'chess' in English usually refers to one game, the Chinese word 棋 is a broad category covering 圍棋 (Go) and 象棋 (Chinese chess).
The term 象棋 contains the character 象, which means 'elephant', a nod to the elephant piece in ancient versions of the game.
The 'Cannon' piece in 象棋 is unique to the Asian variant and requires another piece to jump over in order to capture an opponent.

我對西洋棋沒興趣。
I'm not interested in chess.
Tatoeba #13549468 by LeviHighway, translation #11477067 by CK
汤姆下国际象棋比我好。
Tom plays chess better than me.
Tatoeba #5611649 by verdastelo9604, translation #4556601 by dbahasa
拉斐爾萊唐表示，在巴西，職業棋手很難獲得贊助，因為西洋棋在巴西並不流行。
According to Rafael Leitão, it is very difficult for a professional chess player to get sponsorship in Brazil, because chess is not popular in our country.
Tatoeba #13552204 by LeviHighway, translation #9965822 by carlosalberto
12 more sentences on Tatoeba

Two friends are talking about their hobbies at home.

俊杰 Junjie

佳怡，你想和我下象棋吗？
Jiāyí, nǐ xiǎng hé wǒ xià xiàngqí ma?
Jiayi, do you want to play chess with me?
佳怡 Jiayi

好啊，但我不太会下象棋。
Hǎo a, dàn wǒ bù tài huì xià xiàngqí.
Sure, but I'm not very good at chess.
俊杰 Junjie

没关系，我可以教你。
Méiguānxì, wǒ kěyǐ jiāo nǐ.
That's okay, I can teach you.
佳怡 Jiayi

太好了，谢谢俊杰！
Tài hǎole, xièxiè Jùnjié!
Great, thanks Junjie!

Sources

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