MacBryde was fascinated by the texture of paint and the effects that could be obtained with it. In this work, the chess pieces and the diamond patterns on the woman’s top are painted through paper stencils. In 1947 The Chess Player was included in the British Council’s show of modern British art which travelled to Sweden. There is an unfinished painting of a figure on the back, which resembles work by MacBryde’s long-term partner, Robert Colquhoun, which may indeed have been painted by him.