A checkerboard (American English) or chequerboard (British English; see spelling differences) is a board of checkered pattern on which checkers (also known as English draughts) is played. Most commonly, it consists of 64 squares (8×8) of alternating dark and light color, typically green and buff (official tournaments), black and red (consumer commercial), or black and white (printed diagrams). An 8×8 checkerboard is used to play many other games, including chess, whereby it is known as a chessboard. Other rectangular square-tiled boards are also often called checkerboards.
Games and puzzles using checkerboards
Martin Gardner featured puzzles based on checkerboards in his November 1962 Mathematical Games column in Scientific American. A square checkerboard with an alternating pattern is used for games including: Amazons Chapayev Chess and some of its variants (see chessboard) Czech draughts Draughts, also known as checkers Fox games Frisian draughts Gounki International draughts Italian draughts Knight's Tour Game Lines of Action Pool checkers Russian checkers
The following games require an 8×8 board and are sometimes played on a chessboard. Arimaa Breakthrough Crossings Mak-yek Makruk Martian Chess
Mathematical description
Given a grid with rows and columns, a function ,
or, alternatively,
The element is black and represents the lower left corner of the board.