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Checkerboard

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A checkerboard

A checkerboard (North American English) or chequerboard (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences) is a game board of checkered pattern on which checkers (also known as English draughts) is played.[1] 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. In The Netherlands, however, a dammenbord (checker board) has 10 rows and 10 columns for 100 squares in total (see article International draughts).

Games and puzzles using checkerboards

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A game of checkers within the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

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:

The following games require an 8×8 board and are sometimes played on a chessboard.

Mathematical description

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Given a grid with rows and columns, a function ,

or, alternatively,

The element is black and represents the lower left corner of the board.

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Checkerboard". mathworld.wolfram.com.