On the chessboard 64. Chessboard and initial arrangement of pieces

64 is a whole area, so it is as wide as it is long.

It happens that it is also the most suitable option for playing chess because:

It is large enough to allow multiple maneuvers and strategic opportunities.

This is small enough to provide general guidelines.

The pieces back (2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 queen, 1 king) also require an 8-row board. If you want to make it to 81 (9x9) pieces, you'll have to add one more thing (an extra queen?). But on such a large board, each game would at least take 30 minutes, if not more. Blitz and bullet chess would not be a choice.

If there were 128 or 32 squares, you would ask, “Why is this the number of squares? Why not double it or half it?” This is similar to the question: why does the right corner contain 90°?

There is nothing stopping you from playing chess on board a 4x4, 6x6 or 9x9. In ancient times, people tried such approaches.

To answer why 64 squares, I have to answer a little mathematically. Let me start with this:

[Chess's] earliest form in the 6th century was known as Chaturanga, which translates to "four divisions (of the military)": infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariots.

It states that chaturanga means "game of squares" and also mentions 4 divisions of the military, where 1 division = 8 pieces (4 pawns + 4 main units). So 4x4 = 16 pieces on each side. This also means a total of 32 pieces on the board (8 in each row).

For 32 pieces to be fully mobile on the board, 36 squares would be too congested and not possible; 49 squares would be too congested; 64 sure makes sense, as well as a perfect square of 8.

We'll have to ask the inventors :) I think they were playing another game on an 8x8 board (chaturanga?) and were missing one or two players. There could also be 10x10 (drafts), 19x19 (Go), 9x10 (Chinese chess of 18 pieces each) or any other number of fields.

Capablanca stands for a 10x10 chessboard. He was concerned that the way chess was being played, that there were too many draws, so his answer to this problem was to create two new pieces and play the game on a 10x10 board with ten pawns and ten pieces.

Eight being twos makes an easy to draw board:

1) Start with a large area. 2) Divide this square in half, both vertically and horizontally. (result: 4 squares.) 3) Divide each of the resulting squares in half in the same way. (Result: 16 squares.) 4) Divide each of these squares in half in the same way. (Result: 64 squares.)

Consistently dividing large squares in half is quite easy on the eye, without the aid of any measuring device. If you need higher precision, you can use a line tied to a marker (pencil, chalk, whatever) and a ruler and make a 64 square chess board with almost the same precision as someone using a high precision ruler. You couldn't do this for any board size that isn't a force of two.

Although Chess board It also serves as a field for playing checkers; it is still called chess, because this game is the most ancient and intellectual. It requires specific knowledge from players and promotes the development of logical and mathematical thinking.

History of the emergence and development of chess

Indian legend

History of the chessboard begins with an Indian legend. A certain Brahmin came up with an exciting game for his rajah on a board with squares. And for his creation, he asked the Raja for the number of wheat grains equal to the number of squares on a chessboard, if you put 1 grain on the first square, 2 grains on the second, 4 grains on the third, and so on, doubling the number of wheat grains each time. The naive Raja agreed, but when they began to count the grains, it turned out that there was no such abundance of wheat not only in the overlord’s bins, but throughout the entire globe.

First written mention of chess

There are also versions that the game of chess was invented in Mesopotamia or China. Scientists agree that the first in the 5th century. The first literary mention of this game is found in the Sanskrit poem - Shansharita, composed in honor of King Sharshi, who ruled in India in the 1st half of the 7th century. The game on a board consisting of 64 squares was called Chaturanga. The game allowed us to simulate the combat operations of armies. The figurines depicted a ruler, warriors, elephants and chariots. Victory in the game was considered to be the death of the ruler or the destruction of the enemy's fighting forces.

In chaturanga, the chessboard with pieces did not look the same as it does now. The game involved 4 players, arranged in pairs, against each other. The arrangement of chess pieces on the board was also different. They spread out like the wings of a swastika.

The moves were determined by the number of points rolled on the dice.

Chess in the Middle East. Chatrang.

Around the 7th century, the game entered ancient Iran and was called Chatrang.

Later it acquired the Persian name - chess, which meant - the ruler is dead. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the caliphs in Baghdad patronized chess, and intellectual competitions of the strongest players of that time were regularly held at their court.

But Islam prohibited images of people, and therefore, in order not to conflict with religion, the figures received an abstract image. They were carved from wood and sculpted from clay. Due to its cheapness, in the East the game became widespread among ordinary people.

Big Timurlenga chess

The classic number of cells on a chessboard is 64. In other words, there are 8 cells horizontally and vertically. But history knows how many squares on the chessboard existed at different stages of the development of the game.
So, at a certain period, there were so-called big chess, with 12 and even 16 squares horizontally and vertically. Accordingly, the number of chess pieces increased. Grand chess was popular during the reign of Shah Timur.

Chess in Azerbaijan and Russia

The fact that chess was popular in the court circles of Persia is evidenced by the poems of the great Azerbaijani poet-philosopher Nizami Ganjavi, who lived in the second half of the 12th century.

From research conducted by the famous Soviet historian of the spread of chess I. Linder, it became known that this game was brought to ancient Rus' from Azerbaijan in the 8th-9th centuries. Ivan the Terrible was seriously interested in her.

From the poem “Mehr and Mushteri,” written at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries by G. Tabriz, it became known that chess was played in Azerbaijan long before the spread of Islam.

The famous Azerbaijani poet Magomed Fizuli draws a subtle analogy in his work “Leyli and Majnun”, comparing a young man in love who has lost his mind with himself. The poet writes that although Majnun lived much earlier than him, in the kingdom of love the young man is just a pawn, while he, the author of the poem, is the king. And, despite the fact that in a chess game the pawn stands in front of the king, it still remains a pawn. And Majnun, who came into the world earlier, is a pawn standing in front of the king.

As evidenced by ancient literary sources, simultaneous chess sessions were held back in the Middle Ages. For example, the famous Persian player Haji Ali Tabrizi, who lived in the 14th century, played simultaneous games with four players. He was unanimously recognized as the strongest chess player not only in his country, but throughout the entire Timurlenga empire. True, the eastern chessboard was one color.

European reform of the chess game.

Chess appeared in Western Europe around the 10th century. They were brought by the Arabs through Aquitaine or Iberia. Historians differ on this issue.

The Vikings brought the new game to Britain and Scandinavia. Already in the 11th-12th centuries, chess became an element of aristocratic education and one of the most favorite entertainments of the aristocracy.

But in Europe, the game of chess has undergone its own changes.

The game has become gambling, with bets.
The chessboard became two-color, with alternating black and white squares. Knowing how many cells are on the chessboard, it is easy to calculate how many black cells are on the chessboard, as well as the number of white cells.
The path to victory has been shortened. Instead of 3 ways - checkmate, stalemate and destruction of the enemy pieces, only checkmate remained.

In 1283, at the request of the Spanish king Alfonso X, the Book of Games was created, in which the authors collected chess problems, for example, those in which it was necessary to checkmate in a certain number of moves.

Each chessboard has 64 squares of two colors. In fact, the colors can be of any shade, but players must clearly understand which of the fields are white and which are black, and place the pieces correctly. The cells can be of any color, for example, some are white and others are black, as long as they are easy to distinguish. Light fields are always called white and dark fields black to avoid confusion.

There are 64 squares on the chessboard, 32 white squares and 32 black squares, equally divided. When two opponents sit down to play chess, they place the board between them so that the corner square to the left of each player is black. Place the chessboard in front of you. Did you do it right? To check, look at the color of the cell in the left corner. It should be black.

The blot problem Some squares have colored blots on them. They will help you test how well you understand the geography of the Chess Country. Of course, on a real board there are no blots, neither colored nor even black and white. On which square is the red blot? And the yellow one? Green? Blue?

Of course, horizontals and verticals are the most important lines in the chess kingdom. But you need to know not only about them. There are other lines too. Do you see how cells of the same color touch at the corners? Straight chains of such cells form diagonals. Diagonals are not like other lines. In each diagonal, all cells are the same color. Another difference is that all horizontals and verticals have the same length, but the diagonals are different. Run your finger along all the diagonals and count them. Which diagonals are the longest? Which ones are the shortest? The large white diagonal and the large black diagonal have eight fields each. Where they intersect is the center of the chessboard. This is a square of four cells, two white and two black.

There are only 64 squares on the chessboard, but real chess battles can take place on them. One half of the cells is black, the other is white - 32 former and 32 black. According to chess rules, a cell is called a field.

Black and white are conventional colors. In the photo, some of the figures and the board are made using malachite. However, green figures and fields are conditionally black

Before arranging chess pieces, you need to position the chessboard correctly.

On the left side the board is installed correctly, on the right - incorrectly

There is a funny incident connected with an incorrectly placed chessboard that happened in ancient times somewhere on the border. It was on the border that two gentlemen periodically met and played chess with each other. One fine day, a customs officer became interested in the game and noticed that the board was positioned incorrectly. Those. The “chess players” didn’t even know the rules of chess, but simply pretended to play the game. As it turned out later, the imaginary chess players were smugglers - they hid contraband goods (gold, diamonds :) in chess pieces).

Naming chess fields (cells)

If there are fans of the game “Battleship” among our readers, then they probably drew an analogy with chess - each field has its own address. For example, a1, b7, e4, etc.

Each chess field has its own unique address. It is highly advisable that you visually remember where each field is located. In the future, this will be useful when studying the recording of chess moves. Please note that squares d4,e4,d5,e5 form the so-called center of the board. It is for the cent that the fight is waged at the beginning of a chess game (opening).

To quickly remember the names (addresses) of the chess fields, it makes sense to print out the drawing (A4 format) and hang it on the wall.

Names and designations of chess pieces

There are 6 types of figures in the opponents' arsenal:

The pawn is His Majesty's soldier.
Knight - the value of a knight is equivalent to 3 pawns;
Bishop - its cost, like that of a knight, is 3 pawns;
Rook - heavy artillery (5 pawns);
Queen - 9 pawns;
The king is priceless, because without him the game is impossible.

From left to right: king, queen, bishop, knight, rook, pawn

It is advisable for any beginning chess player to learn how to write down chess moves as early as possible; for this you need to know chess notation. Chess notation is a system of symbols used to record a chess game or the position of pieces on a chessboard. Already now you can familiarize yourself with the designations of chess pieces.

Figure	Appearance	Russian abbreviation	English abbreviation
King	♔ or ♚	Kr	K (king)
Queen	♕ or ♛	F	Q (queen)
Rook	♖ or ♜	L	R (rook)
Elephant	♗ or ♝	WITH	B (bishop)
Horse	♘ or ♞	TO	N(kNight)
Pawn	♙ or ♟	n or nothing	p (pawn) or nothing

When studying chess notation, we will return to this table, and now we will figure out how to arrange the pieces.

Arrangement of chess pieces

Now let's see what the initial arrangement of chess pieces on the board looks like.

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This is exactly how the pieces should be arranged if we are talking about chess in the classical sense. However, other variants of pieces are also possible when it comes to Fischer chess - otherwise called “random chess”. For now we are interested in the classic arrangement, so we need to remember it. Otherwise, confusion may arise, like in a chess game for children.

To make it easier for you to remember the arrangement of the figures, you can arrange them in a certain sequence. Watch the video for one of the options.

At the beginning of a chess game, there are 32 pieces on the board - 16 white and 16 black. At the end of the game, the minimum number of pieces can be two - a white and a black king. Kings are the two most important pieces on the chessboard. The time has come to figure out what they can do - the whole truth about the chess king.

My question is: why not 36, 49, 81 or some other square number? Do any historical sources tell us how and why chess came to be played on 64 squares in particular? Has it always been like this?

4 answers

[Chess] in its early form in the 6th century was known as chaturaṅga, which translates as "four divisions (of the military)": infantry, cavalry, elephant and chariot.

For 32 pieces to be fully mobile on the board, 36 squares would be too congested and not possible; 49 squares would be too congested; 64 sure makes sense, as well as a perfect square of 8.