CK :: Training :: General :: 8 Queens Problem

Chess Kit ť Training ť General ť 8 Queens Problem

Scan all over the board: Place eight queens on the board without anyone standing in the way of anyone else. No other piece or pawn or even king is on the board. Just queens!

Before you go ahead let us make it clear what is the purpose of this problem. Have you ever felt that you completely forgot a piece or pawn on another corner of the board that could have helped in a combination to have won the game? This problem will help you to get into the habit of scanning the board. Yes! All over the board!

You must feel happy if you have not yet solved the problem really quick! If you could not solve the problem in a couple of minutes, please pack up the board and try next day. You are learning to scan and not learning to solve the problem. If you ever solved it by accident by trial and error method, quickly pack up the board and never attempt to remember the pattern. Try again the next day. I can only compare those who try to solve it in one go [i.e. trying for more than the two minute maximum limit....in fact two minutes is a very long time.....] to the one who wanted to find out how his duck laid golden eggs.

Let us see the 'Scan all over the board' problem.

If you do not have access to eight queens, you can use pawns assuming that they are queens.

Here is an example of a position
with no errors and 3 queens on the board.

Here is an example of a position with 1 error and 4 queens on the board. Two of the queens are standing in each others way.

Check ranks, files and diagonals for interference. Good Luck!

You may email us if you have any questions, want us to reveal the solution or think this is theoretically impossible.