54
votes
Can all 64 squares be attacked or defended by the eight pieces?
If the two bishops travel on the same color squares, then all 64 squares can be covered by the eight pieces. However, if the bishops must travel on opposite colors, then the maximum number of squares ...
- 561
32
votes
Wrongly placed chessboard - what happens?
It's wrong because the rules say so:
2.1 The chessboard is composed of an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal squares alternately light (the ‘white’ squares) and dark (the ‘black’ squares).
The chessboard is ...
- 23.9k
28
votes
Accepted
If a chess board is disturbed, can the game continue?
From the FIDE Laws of Chess, article 7.6:
If, during a game, it is found that any piece has been displaced from its correct square the position before the irregularity shall be reinstated. If the ...
- 5,809
23
votes
20
votes
Accepted
Render a chessboard from a PGN file
You can use the SVG rendering functionalities of python-chess. This will allow you to create a SVG-formatted visualisation of any board position loaded using python-chess.
FEN to SVG
For example, ...
- 11.8k
15
votes
Accepted
Chess set icons
You might look for a chess set font. Here are several. Licensing information is included. It looks like they have been scanned from old books in some cases.
- 19.9k
13
votes
Chess set icons
Unicode has chess piece icons in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_symbols_in_Unicode
This means you could look for a font which includes the chess symbol unicode block and has a license which ...
- 131
12
votes
Accepted
What did Benjamin Franklin mean in this quote?
You hold yourself to a higher standard than your opponent, for politeness' sake.
So you let him play an alternative move after you kindly point out that it was perhaps not the best available, but you ...
- 26.3k
10
votes
How can one easily learn chess board coordinates?
Some websites offer "coordinate drills". I'm not sure how effective they are for learning, but you can certainly give them a try. I found it to be surprisingly entertaining to try to beat my personal ...
- 10.3k
8
votes
Where can I find Pauls' 1874 article on the n-queens problem?
The only old documents I find available online from the Deutsche Schachzeitung periodical are from Volumes 20, 21, 44, 45, 56, 57, which are available at the Internet Archive. So if you really are ...
- 23.1k
8
votes
Render a chessboard from a PGN file
Yes, of course it's possible. I've done it a lot professionally. However, there is no tool that just takes a PGN chess game and convert it into images. You will need to do some programming, not very ...
- 21.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Order of pieces in one-dimensional array
They're both equally natural, they just start at a different square. But that choice is arbitrary anyway. Printing to a terminal is one of the least critical things a chess engine does with a board, ...
- 26.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Which online chessboard orientation do professional players prefer?
Since over the board chess is played with each player's pieces starting on the side closest to them, the natural board orientation is with your own pieces on the bottom. This is the default ...
- 96
7
votes
Why are there 64 squares on a chessboard?
Nothing is stopping you from playing chess in a 4x4, 6x6 or 9x9 board. In ancient times people have tried such approaches.
To answer why 64 squares, I have to answer a bit mathematically. Let me ...
- 946
7
votes
Accepted
What system do DGT boards use?
This page contains a lot of information about DGT boards, including the patent, detailed description of technologies and algorithms used. Many additional references are provided, too. It is definitely ...
- 3,642
7
votes
Accepted
What is the correct name for a part of a chessboard: 'square' or 'cell'?
Yes, that's a "square". The word "cell" is never used. E.g. from the Wikipedia article:
Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid....
- 23.9k
6
votes
Where can I find Pauls' 1874 article on the n-queens problem?
For people stumbling on this question: volume 29 is available online though Google Books since februari 2015.
- 61
6
votes
Web Interface for training by dragging and dropping pieces
There's also the lichess board editor. It supports all the features you want, and will also let you get a computer analysis or play the position against the engine.
- 161
6
votes
Why are there 64 squares on a chessboard?
Capablanca advocated for a 10x10 chess board. He was concerned that chess was getting played out, that there were far too many draws, so his response to that problem was to create two new pieces and ...
- 5,174
6
votes
What did Benjamin Franklin mean in this quote?
That sentence is taken out of context. I copy here the text of the full paragraph, which answers your question:
If the game is not to be played rigorously, according to the rules above mentioned, ...
- 3,223
6
votes
Real Chess Board which detects the moves we do
Yes, there are boards that record moves made automatically. This link should give you ample information about so called DGT-boards.
Because DGT-boards are pretty expensive, maybe you want to take a ...
- 18.9k
6
votes
What does it take to become a professional chess player?
You don't need to be a professional to participate in a tournament, you just have to sign up for the tournament (as long as it's not by invitation only or has minimum rating requirements). You may ...
- 10.3k
5
votes
On a glass board, which squares are "white"?
At the lower right corner, the square's color should be White. I have seen some glass chess boards and most of the times the frosted pieces/squares represent the Black side, and the clear pieces/...
- 313
5
votes
48 pieces on one board
It is one of many forms of three-player chess, apparently called 3 Man Chess. Rules are explained here.
- 20.4k
5
votes
What does it take to become a professional chess player?
To become a professional player who makes a living from tournaments, you really need a GM+ level. Even as a GM, you might find yourself struggling for your bills.
Raise your FIDE to 2500, come back ...
- 21.6k
5
votes
Wrongly placed chessboard - what happens?
I don't think there's anything in the game that's strictly tied to the colors of the squares. You can still number the ranks and files from the bottom-left corner and e.g. Bishops would start on ...
- 324
5
votes
Tiniest readable board and pieces design
Well, the minimum recognizable size could be 3x3 for each figurine (+1 as field separator if you are spendable) thus you could even fit it in the classical 32x32 icon format. (The pics at the bottom ...
- 10.9k
4
votes
Why are there 64 squares on a chessboard?
64 is a whole square, so that it is as wide as it is long.
It happens that it is also THE MOST suitable option for a chess game, because:
It is big enough to allow multiple maneuvers and strategical ...
- 197
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