The chessboard has 64 cells. Chessboard and initial arrangement of pieces

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

The 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 cells. And for his creation, he asked the Raja for the number of grains of wheat, as many cells on the chessboard, if you put 1 grain on the first cell, 2 grains on the second, 4 grains on the third, and so on, each time doubling the number of wheat grains. 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 bins of the ruler, but throughout the entire globe.

The first written mention of chess

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

In chaturanga, the chessboard with pieces did not look like it does now. The game was played by 4 players in pairs facing each other. The arrangement was also different chess pieces On the desk. They were arranged like the wings of a swastika.

Moves were determined by the number of points rolled on the dice.

Chess in the Middle East. Chatrang.

Around the 7th century, the game made its way into ancient Iran and was called Chatrang.

Later, it acquired the Persian name - chess, which meant - the ruler is dead. In the 9th-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 forbade images of people, and therefore, in order not to conflict with religion, the figures received an abstract image. They were carved from wood and molded from clay. Due to its cheapness, in the East the game has spread widely among ordinary people.

Big chess Timurlenga

The classical 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, in a certain period, there were so-called big chess, with 12, and even with 16 cells horizontally and vertically. Accordingly, the number of chess pieces also increased. Grand chess was popular during the reign of Shah Timur.

Chess in Azerbaijan and in 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 the research conducted by the famous Soviet historian of the spread of chess I. Linder, it became known that this game was brought to ancient Russia from Azerbaijan in the VIII-IX centuries. Ivan the Terrible was seriously fond of her.

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

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

As evidenced by ancient literary sources, simultaneous chess sessions were held in the Middle Ages. For example, the well-known 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 Timurleng 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 a new game to Britain and Scandinavia. Already in the XI-XII centuries, chess became an element of aristocratic education and one of the most favorite pastimes of the aristocracy.

But in Europe the game of chess has changed.

1. The game has become gambling, on bets.
2. The chessboard became two-color, with alternating black and white cells. 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.
3. Shortened the path to victory. Instead of 3 ways - checkmate, stalemate and destruction of the opponent's pieces, only checkmate remained.

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

Good day, dear friend!

The space for playing chess is called the chessboard. If you don't like the word "board", you can call it like this: a playing chess field. Just not to be confused with another field - a cell. All this in today's article.

So, let me explain my idea.

chess field can be considered in two forms: the chessboard as a whole and each of 64 parts - cells into which it divides.

Let's go in order:

Board

The chessboard is a set of dark and light cells (fields) arranged alternately .

Surely you have heard this expression: "They are arranged in a checkerboard pattern." That is, alternately.

Total on the board 64 cells or fields.

The color is usually brown. Accordingly, the color of the fields: dark fields - dark brown, light fields - light brown. This applies to the board as a real object. Electronic charts can have a wide variety of colors.

chess cage

The cells on the chessboard are called fields.

The fields are arranged in rows. Total Rows 8 . Eight fields (cells) in each row. Rows of fields are called horizontals. Accordingly, there are also verticals - they are also 8 .

Each row (horizontal) has your number: from one to eight . Verticals are indicated by Latin characters: from a before h

Surely you have noticed that the board resembles a coordinate system. So he is. Only instead of the names of the axes, each field has names.

For instance:

Each field (cell) has its own unique number. The number is made up of the designation of the vertical, in this case - d, and row numbers, in our example - 4 .

That is, in our figure, the field is indicated d4.

All other fields are marked in the same way.

Arrangement of figures

white pieces located in the initial position strictly on the first and second row (horizontals) .

black- symmetrically, 7 and 8 row (horizontal).

The initial set of pieces: king, queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops and eight pawns.

Along the edges, (for whites in the fields a1 and h1) rooks are located, further to the center are horses, then bishops. In the center are the Queen (field d1) and King (field e1). There are 8 pawns on the second row.

The black pieces are arranged symmetrically with the white pieces, 7 and 8 horizontal lines.

The board should be placed so that field a1 was located in the lower left corner .

Example correct arrangement of the board and pieces:

Wrong arrangement of the board and figures:

In this case white figures are placed on 7 and 8 horizontal lines that wrong. As a matter of fact, the board is upside down .

One more example of incorrect positioning of the board and arrangement of pieces: The numbers of the rows (horizontals) are located at the bottom. Accordingly, the letter designations of the verticals are on the side.

Also, a fairly common occurrence among beginner chess players is confusion in the relative position of the queen and king.

The rule is: the queen must occupy the square of her color . That is, - the white queen should be on a light field ( d1). Black - on dark ( d8)

Accordingly, the king is always near, to the right of the queen, on the field e1 (e8).

How to arrange shapes

I recommend following the rule from the first steps: start putting figures “from the center” : first king and queen, then bishops, knights, rooks, pawns. This sequence will allow you to better remember the value of the figures.

In addition, later, when arranging various non-original positions, it is also better to start with the king and so on. That way you're less likely to miss something.

Personally, I even sometimes I speak out loud starting to arrange the figures. For example: "White: the king is one, the queen de five ..." And so on.

It's easier, because the auditory channel of perception is also included.

Chess notation

The “coordinate system” of the chessboard was not invented by chance. It allows you to record parts, combinations, problems and etudes. And then play.

The sign system for recording a party is called chess notation . In short, all moves are reflected using symbols.

For instance: 10.Nf3-g5

This entry means the following : White's tenth move is made. Horse from the field f3 go to g5.

Black's move is indicated with an ellipsis after the move number. For instance: 10….Na6-c5

There is a separate one for details on chess notation. We will not repeat.

I hope it's more or less clear. If you have any questions, the comments section is at your service.

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There are only 64 cells on the chessboard, but real chess battles can take place on them. One half of the cells is black, the second is white - 32 former and 32 black. According to the rules of chess 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 pieces and fields are conventionally black

Before you place the chess pieces, you need to correctly place the chessboard.

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

With an incorrectly placed chessboard, a funny incident is connected, which happened in ancient times somewhere on the border. It was on the border that two gentlemen periodically met, who played chess among themselves. One fine day, a customs officer became interested in the game, who noticed that the board was not positioned correctly. Those. "chess players" didn't even know the rules of chess, but simply portrayed 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 Sea Battle game 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 desirable that you visually remember where which field is located. In the long run, this will come in handy when studying the recording of chess moves. Please note that the squares d4,e4,d5,e5 form the so-called center of the board. It is for the cent that the struggle is fought at the beginning of a chess game (debut).

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

Names and symbols of chess pieces

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

• The pawn is a soldier of his majesty.
• Knight - the cost 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.

Left to right: king, queen, bishop, knight, rook, pawn

It is desirable for any novice 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 conventions used to record a game of chess or the positions of pieces on a chessboard. Already now you can familiarize yourself with the notation of chess pieces.

Figure	Appearance	Russian abbreviation	English abbreviation
King	♔ or ♚	Cr	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 how the initial arrangement of chess pieces on the board looks like.

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You must enable JavaScript to display charts.

This is how the pieces should be placed when it comes to chess in the classical sense. However, other variants of the figures are also possible, if we are talking about Fischer chess - otherwise they are called “random chess”. For now, we are interested in the classical arrangement, so we need to remember it. Otherwise, confusion may arise, as 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. For one of the options, see the video.

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 - this is the white and black king. Kings are the two most important pieces on the chessboard. It's time to figure out what they can do - the whole truth about the chess king.

63. Legend of the chessboard

Chess is one of the most ancient games. It has existed for many centuries, and it is not surprising that various legends are associated with it, the veracity of which, due to the prescription of time, cannot be verified.

I want to tell one of these legends. To understand it, one does not need to know how to play chess at all: it is enough to know that the game takes place on a board divided into 64 cells (alternately black and white).

The game of chess was invented in India, and when the Hindu king Sheram became acquainted with it, he was delighted with its wit and the variety of possible positions in it.

Having learned that it was invented by one of his subjects, the king ordered to call him in order to personally reward him for a successful invention.

The inventor, his name was Seta, came to the throne of the ruler. He was a modestly dressed scientist who received his livelihood from his students.

I want to adequately reward you, Seth, for the wonderful game that you came up with, the king said.

The sage bowed.

I am rich enough to fulfill your most daring wish,” the king continued. “Name the reward that will satisfy you, and you will receive it.

Seth was silent.

Do not be shy, - the king encouraged him. - Express your desire. I will spare nothing to fulfill it.

Great is your kindness, my lord. But give it time
think about the answer. Tomorrow, upon mature reflection, I will inform
you my request.

When the next day, Seta again appeared at the steps of the throne, he surprised the king with the unparalleled modesty of his request.

Lord, - said Seth, - order me to give me one grain of wheat for the first cell of the chessboard.

A simple grain of wheat? - the king was amazed.

Yes, master. For the second cell, order to give out 2 grains, for the third 4, for the fourth - 8, for the fifth - 16, for the sixth - 32 ...

Enough, - the king interrupted him with irritation. - You will receive your grains for all 64 cells of the board, according to your desire: for each, twice as much as the previous one. But know that your request is not worthy of my generosity. Asking for such an insignificant reward, you are disrespectful
neglect my mercy. Truly, as a teacher, you could show the best example of respect for kindness.

his sovereign. Go. My servants will bring you your sack of wheat.

Seta smiled, left the hall and waited at the gates of the palace.

At dinner, the king remembered the inventor of chess and sent to find out if the reckless Seth had already taken away his miserable reward.

Lord, - was the answer, - your order is being fulfilled. Court mathematicians calculate the number of grains that follow.

The king frowned. He was not accustomed to his orders being carried out so slowly.

In the evening, going to bed, the king once again inquired whether Seta had left the palace fence with his sack of wheat.

Lord, - they answered him, - your mathematicians work tirelessly and hope to finish counting before dawn.

Why are they delaying this matter? - the king exclaimed angrily. - Tomorrow, before I wake up, everything to the last grain must be given to Seth. I don't order twice.

In the morning, the king was informed that the foreman of the court mathematicians asked to listen to an important report. The king ordered to bring him in.

Before you talk about your case, - Sheram announced, - I want to hear if Seth has finally received the insignificant reward that he appointed himself.

For the sake of this I dared to appear before you at such an early hour, - the old man answered. The number is so big...

No matter how great it is, the king interrupted arrogantly, my granaries will not become scarce. The reward has been promised and must be given...

It is not in your power, lord, to fulfill such desires. In all your barns there is not such a number of grains as Seth demanded. Nor is it in the granaries of the whole kingdom. There is no such number of grains in the entire space of the Earth. And if you want to give out the promised reward without fail, then order to turn the earthly kingdoms into arable fields, order to dry the seas and oceans, order to melt the ice and snow covering the distant northern deserts. Let all their space be completely sown with wheat. And all that is born on these fields, order to give to Seth. Then he will receive his reward. With amazement, the king listened to the words of the elder.

Give me that monstrous number, he said thoughtfully.

Eighteen quintillions four hundred
rock six quadrillion seven hundred forty four
trillion seventy-three billion seven hundred
nine million five hundred and fifty one thousand six hundred and fifteen, oh lord!

Such is the legend. Whether what is said here really happened is not known, but that the reward of which the tradition speaks was to be expressed in just such a number, you yourself can verify this by patient calculation.

Starting with one, you need to add the numbers: 1, 2, 4, 8, etc. The result of the 63rd doubling will show how much the inventor was due for the 64th cell of the board. Proceeding as explained on page 75, we can easily find the whole sum of the following grains if we double the last number and subtract one unit. This means that the calculation is reduced only to the multiplication of 64 twos!

2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 etc. (64 times).

For ease of calculation, let's divide these 64 factors into 6 groups of 10 twos each and one last group of 4 twos. The product of 10 twos, as you can easily see, is 1024, and 4 twos is 16. Hence, the desired result is equal to

1024*1024*1024 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 *16.

Multiplying 1024x1024, we get 1048 576. Now it remains to find

1 048 576 *1 048 576 *1 048 576 *16,

subtract one unit from the result - and we will know the desired number of grains:

18 446 744 073 709 551 615.

If you want to imagine the whole immensity of this numerical giant, estimate what size barn would be required to accommodate such a number of grains. It is known that a cubic meter of wheat contains about 15 million grains. This means that the reward for the chess inventor should have taken up approximately 12,000,000,000,000 cube m, or 12,000 cube km. At barn height 4 m and width 10 m its length would have to extend to 300,000,000 km,- that is, twice as far as from the Earth to the Sun! ..

The Hindu king was not in a position to issue such an award. But he could easily, if he were strong in mathematics, free himself from such a burdensome debt. To do this, it was only necessary to invite Seth to count himself grain by grain, all the wheat due to him.

In fact: if Seta, having taken up the account, led it continuously day and night, counting one grain per second, he would have counted only 86,400 grains in the first day. To count a million grains, it would take at least 10 days of tireless counting. He would count one cubic meter of wheat in about half a year: this would give him only 5 quarters. Counting continuously for 10 years, he would count himself no more than 100 quarters. You see that if he devoted even the rest of his life to the account, Seta would receive only a tiny fraction of the reward he demanded.

64. Rapid reproduction. A ripe poppy head is full of tiny seeds, each of which can grow into a whole plant. How many poppies will it turn out if every single grain sprouts? To find out, you need to count the grains in a whole head. A boring task, but the result is so interesting that you should be patient and finish the count. It turns out that one head of poppy contains (round number) 3000 seeds.

What follows from here? The fact that if there was a sufficient area of ​​suitable land around our poppy plant, each fallen grain would sprout, and next summer 3000 poppies would already grow in this place. A whole poppy field from one head!

Let's see what will happen next. Each of 3000 plants will bring at least one head (more often several) containing 3000 grains. Having germinated, the seeds of each head will give 3000 new plants, and, consequently, in the second year we will have at least

3000x3000=9,000,000 plants.

9,000,000x3000=27,000,000,000. And in the fourth year

27,000,000 000X3000=81,000,000,000,000.

In the fifth year, poppies will become crowded on the globe, because the number of plants will become equal

81 000 000 000 000*3000=243 000 000 000 000 000.

The surface of the entire land, that is, all the continents and islands of the globe, is only 135 million square kilometers - 135,000,000,000,000 sq. m.- about 2000 times less than poppy specimens would grow.

You see that if all the poppy seeds germinated, the offspring of one plant could, in five years, completely cover the entire land of the globe with a dense thicket of two thousand plants per square meter. What a numerical giant is hidden in a tiny poppy seed!

Having made a similar calculation not for the poppy, but for some other plant that produces fewer seeds, we would come to the same result, but only its offspring would cover the entire Earth not in 5 years, but in a slightly longer period. Take, for example, a dandelion that produces about 100 seeds a year *). If all of them sprouted, we would have:

*) In one dandelion head, even about 200 achenes were counted.

This is 70 times more than there are square meters on the entire land.

Consequently, in the 9th year, the continents of the globe would be covered with dandelions, 70 per square meter.

Why don't we actually observe such a monstrously rapid reproduction? Because the vast majority of seeds die without sprouting: they either do not fall on suitable soil and do not germinate at all, or, having begun to germinate, they are drowned out by other plants, or, finally, they are simply exterminated by animals. But if this mass destruction of seeds and there were no sprouts, each plant would in a short time completely cover our entire planet.

This is true not only for plants, but also for animals. Without death, the offspring of one pair of any animal would sooner or later fill the entire Earth. Hordes of locusts, completely covering vast areas, can give us some idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat would happen if death did not prevent the reproduction of living beings. In some two or three decades, the continents would be covered with impenetrable forests and steppes, where millions of animals would swarm, fighting among themselves for a place. The ocean would be so full of fish that navigation would be impossible. And the air would become barely transparent from a multitude of birds and insects. Consider, for example, how quickly the well-known housefly breeds. Let each fly lay 120 eggs and let 7 generations of flies appear during the summer, half of which are females. We will take April 15 as the beginning of the first clutch and we will assume that the female fly grows so much in 20 days that she lays eggs herself. Then reproduction will take place like this:

May 5 - each female lays 120 eggs; in the middle of May - 60x120 = 7200 flies come out, of which 3600 are females;

May 25 - each of 3600 females lays 120 eggs; at the beginning of June - 3600x120 = 432,000 flies come out, of which 216,000 are females;

June 14 - each of 216,000 females lays 120 eggs; at the end of June - 25,920,000 flies come out, including 12,960,000 females;

July 5 - 12,960,000 females lay 120 eggs each; in July - 1,555,200,000 flies come out, among them 777,600,000 females;

In order to more clearly imagine this huge mass of flies, which, with unimpeded reproduction, could be born from one pair during one summer, let us imagine that they are lined up in a straight line, one near the other. Since the length of the fly is 5 mm, then all these flies would stretch out for 2500 million years. km- 18 times greater than the distance from the Earth to the Sun (i.e., approximately, as from the Earth to the distant planet Uranus) ...

In conclusion, let us cite several genuine cases of unusually rapid reproduction of animals placed in favorable conditions.

In America, originally there were no sparrows. This bird, so common among us, was deliberately brought into the United States for the purpose of destroying harmful insects there. The sparrow is known to eat voracious caterpillars and other insects that damage gardens and orchards in abundance. Sparrows fell in love with the new environment: there were no predators in America that exterminated these birds, and the sparrow began to multiply rapidly. The number of harmful insects began to noticeably decrease, but soon the sparrows multiplied so much that - due to a lack of animal food - they turned to vegetable food and began to devastate crops *). I had to start fighting the sparrows; this struggle cost the Americans so dearly that for the future a law was issued prohibiting the importation of any animals into America.

Second example. There were no rabbits in Australia when this mainland was discovered by Europeans. The rabbit was introduced there at the end of the 18th century, and since there are no predators that feed on rabbits, the reproduction of these rodents went at an unusually fast pace. Soon, hordes of rabbits flooded all of Australia, causing terrible harm to agriculture and turning into a real disaster. Enormous funds were thrown into the fight against this scourge of agriculture, and only thanks to energetic measures was it possible to cope with the disaster. Much the same thing happened later with rabbits in California.

*) And in the Hawaiian Islands, they completely replaced all other small birds.

The third instructive story took place on the island of Jamaica. Venomous snakes abounded here. In order to get rid of them, it was decided to bring a secretary bird, a furious exterminator of poisonous snakes, to the island. The number of snakes really soon decreased, but the field rats, which used to be eaten by snakes, bred unusually. The rats caused such damage to the sugarcane plantations that they had to seriously consider their extermination. It is known that the enemy of rats is the Indian mongoose. It was decided to bring 4 pairs of these animals to the island and allow them to breed freely. The mongooses adapted well to their new homeland and quickly populated the entire island. In less than ten years, they almost destroyed the rats on it. But alas - having exterminated the rats, the mongooses began to eat anything, becoming omnivores: they attacked puppies, kids, pigs, poultry and their eggs. And having multiplied even more, they set about orchards, grain fields, plantations. The inhabitants began to destroy their recent allies, but they succeeded only to some extent | limit the harm caused by mongooses.