There are many ways of saying 'play' in Chinese depending on what you want to play.
For example: If you want to play football you say 踢足球 - 提 here takes the meaning 'play'. If you want to play tennis you say 打网球 - 打 here takes the meaning 'play'. If you want to play computer games you use 玩 - 玩电脑游戏. Play chess can be said a few ways: 对弈, 下棋, 对局, 玩 and so on.