to the devising of
the most entertaining puzzles. There is room for such infinite variety
that the true puzzle lover cannot afford to neglect them. It was with a
view to securing the interest of readers who are frightened off by the
mere presentation of a chessboard that so many puzzles of this class
were originally published by me in various fanciful dresses. Some of
these posers I still retain in their disguised form; others I have
translated into terms of the chessboard. In the majority of cases the
reader will not need any knowledge whatever of chess, but I have thought
it best to assume throughout that he is acquainted with the terminology,
the moves, and the notation of the game.

I first deal with a few questions affecting the chessboard itself; then
with certain statical puzzles relating to the Rook, the Bishop, the
Queen, and the Knight in turn; then dynamical puzzles with the pieces in
the same order; and, finally, with some miscellaneous puzzles on the
chessboard. It is hoped that the formulae and tables given at the end of
the statical puzzles will be of interest, as they are, for the most
part, published for the first time.

THE CHESSBOARD.

"Good company's a chessboard."
BYRON'S _Don Juan_, xiii. 89.

A chessboard is essentially a square plane divided into sixty-four
smaller squares by straight lines at right angles. Originally it was not
chequered (that is, made with its rows and columns alternately black and
white, or of any other two colours), and this improvement was introduced
merely to help the eye in actual play. The utility of the chequers is
unquestionable. For example, it facilitates the operation of the
bishops, enabling us to see at the merest glance that our king or pawns
on black squares are not open to attack from an opponent's bishop
running on the white diagonals. Yet the chequering of the board is not
essential to the game of chess. Also, when we are propounding puzzles on
the chessboard, it is often well to remember that additional interest
may result from "generalizing" for boards containing any number of
squares, or from limiting ourselves to some particular chequered
arrangement, not necessarily a square. We will give a few puzzles
dealing with chequered boards in this general way.

288.--CHEQUERED BOARD DIVISIONS.

I recently asked myself the question: In how many different ways may a
chessboard be divided into two parts of the same size and shape by cut