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Questions tagged [chessboards]

For questions about the boards used for playing chess.

53 questions
31
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1 answer

Can all 64 squares be attacked or defended by the eight pieces?

Can you place the eight (non-pawn) pieces of one color on an otherwise empty chess board, such that every square (including the squares that pieces are on), is attacked / defended? This is a problem that I wrestled with in high school and I'm not…
Timmy
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If a chess board is disturbed, can the game continue?

Let's say I'm playing a game that has technically begun (white has moved) and then the board is disturbed: say a minor earthquake shakes the pieces off the table or something. Clearly no-one has interfered so there is no cheating, but what happens…
Smoke
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18
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5 answers

Chess set icons

I am looking for an examples of a free chess set icons. It would be nice if the place allow to download them, but this is not really important, as I will still need to redraw them in svg format. Just to explain what I mean by chess set icons. I need…
Salvador Dali
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14
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6 answers

I blunder too much in over-the-board chess

I have played 99% of my games online, I have seen and learn almost everything related to chess with the fonts Alpha or Mérida, either through diagrams or games, etc . However, when I play with an actual chessboard, I blunder too much, I have trouble…
ajax333221
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11
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3 answers

Render a chessboard from a PGN file

I’d like to render a 2D chessboard image and save it after the last move as a PNG or JPEG from a given PGN file on a Linux console. How can I do this? I have a PGN file and I want to get a screenshot of the board. Seems to be a simple task but I…
wintermeyer
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10
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3 answers

Where can I find Pauls' 1874 article on the n-queens problem?

Where can I find the following article, which concerns the n-queens problem? E. Pauls, Das Maximalproblem der Damen auf dem Schachbrete, II, Deutsche Schachzeitung. Organ f¨ur das Gesammte Schachleben 29 (9)(1874) 257–267.
benedito
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10
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3 answers

Wrongly placed chessboard - what happens?

What happens if the chessboard is kept with black square on right hand side instead of white square? I think that the notations will change. In the new positon, the White king will be positioned on a white square and the Black king will be…
Prashant Akerkar
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9
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1 answer

How to craft a chess set?

I'm thinking to have fun this summer, trying to craft my own wooden chess set. Has anyone tried doing so? How should I proceed? What materials to buy? what guides to follow?
Lynob
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9
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9 answers

How can one easily learn chess board coordinates?

I am relatively new to chess, and I wonder, what is a fast (and hopefully easy) way to learn chess board coordinates? This is so when I am watching a video where the commentator says, for example, "Knight f6," I know to look quickly at f6, and I…
sharp12345
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8
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Why are there 64 squares on a chessboard?

My question is, why not 36, 49, 81 or some other square number? Do any historical sources point to how and why chess came to be played on 64 squares in particular? Has it always been so?
Bugfixer
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8
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3 answers

What are some good quality magnetic chess sets?

I'm looking for an attractive (probably all-wood external) magnetic chess set that has reasonably strong magnets and pieces of relatively normal size; I've had enough of the chintzy plastic ones with 1/2" kings. I'd also prefer it to be a one-piece…
Daniel
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6
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Name for the "folding magnetic chess set" variant?

Does anyone know the name of the chessboard variant where you fold a standard board along the line between the d-file and e-file, to get a double-sided 8x4 board? A piece on top can move past the edge of the board, in which case it flips and…
deep thought
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6
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4 answers

On a glass board, which squares are "white"?

I have a chessboard made of alternating frosted and clear glass pieces. I'm never sure how to orient the board. Which is the official "light color" to put in the lower right corner?
Octopus
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5
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What did Benjamin Franklin mean in this quote?

I was reading thenarticle at http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/benjamin-franklin-on-the-morals-of-chess, and in the last paragraph, Ben Franklin says "Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered by his unskilfulness or inattention; but point…
Kelsey
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5
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Which online chessboard orientation do professional players prefer?

Do professional online players always prefer to play on a chessboard oriented with the Black pieces on the top or with their own pieces on the bottom? Is there a consensus on this, and has there ever been a formal or informal poll?
hunter
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