The Board and Squares
Hi! I'm Pesha, and I used to mix up squares too. Look: the board is 8 by 8 squares, light and dark taking turns. The files are labelled with letters a–h from left to right, and the ranks with numbers 1–8 from bottom to top. So every square has a name, like a house address: a letter plus a number. It seems tricky at first, but in a couple of lessons you'll be naming squares faster than me!
Let's check right away! If there are 8 files and 8 ranks too, you can just multiply them. I once counted 63 — turned out I'd skipped one. How many squares are there on the board in total?
Exactly, 64! 8×8 — and I lost count my first time!
Now let's find a piece by its address. See the white king — the tallest one, with the little cross on his crown? First look at the file letter along the bottom, then the rank number on the side. Which square does the white king stand on in the classical setup?
Yes! File e, rank 1 — you're already reading the board like a book!
This is a preview — the full interactive lesson is in the app.
Free, no ads · Android 8.0+ · coming soon to Google Play