How many squares are there on a standard chessboard?
- A.36
- B.49
- C.64
- D.81
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, 64. A chessboard is a square divided into eight rows, called ranks, and eight columns, called files, so the number of squares is 8 multiplied by 8, that is 64. They are coloured alternately light and dark, 32 of each, and the board is turned so that each player has a light square in the bottom right corner. Each side begins with 16 pieces, which fill the first two ranks, so 32 of the 64 squares are occupied at the start. Option A is wrong because 36 would be a six by six board. Option B is wrong because 49 would be seven by seven. Option D is wrong because 81 is the nine by nine grid of Sudoku, not of chess. Remember the pair of figures: 64 squares and 32 pieces.
Read the full article: Chess and Indian Grandmasters: Firsts, Titles and Records
Practice Questions
View allThe modern game of chess is believed to have developed from which ancient Indian game?
- A.Chaturanga
- B.Pachisi
- C.Gilli Danda
- D.Chausar
Show answer
Chaturanga was played in India in the Gupta age and its name means four limbs, standing for the four divisions of an ancient army: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots.
Read the full explanation →Who became the first Grandmaster of India?
- A.Pentala Harikrishna
- B.Viswanathan Anand
- C.Manuel Aaron
- D.Dibyendu Barua
Show answer
Anand, born in Mayiladuthurai and brought up in Chennai, earned the Grandmaster title in 1988 while still a teenager and became the first Indian to hold the highest lifetime title awarded by FIDE.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first Indian woman to be awarded the Grandmaster title?
- A.Koneru Humpy
- B.Dronavalli Harika
- C.Tania Sachdev
- D.Vaishali Rameshbabu
Show answer
Humpy, from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, earned the open Grandmaster title in 2002 while in her teens, and at that time she was the youngest woman in the world to have done so.
Read the full explanation →In which year was FIDE, the international chess federation, founded?
- A.1912
- B.1924
- C.1936
- D.1951
Show answer
FIDE, the Federation Internationale des Echecs, was founded in Paris in 1924, and its motto is Gens una sumus, a Latin phrase meaning we are one people.
Read the full explanation →International Chess Day is observed every year on which date?
- A.20 July
- B.19 November
- C.29 August
- D.6 April
Show answer
The date marks the founding of FIDE, the international chess federation, in Paris on 20 July 1924, and the day is observed by chess federations across the world with tournaments and school events.
Read the full explanation →