Embedded Files
Chess is played on a game board that is made up of alternating light and dark squares in a 8x8 grid.
A field of 64 squares with alternating light and dark colored squares made up of:
Eight (8) rows called ranks numbered from 1 to 8.
Eight (8) columns called files labeled from A to H.
In order for the board to be correctly positioned the lower right square for each player should be a light color (white).
It is important to note that the White player's bottom right light square is h1, while the Black player's bottom right light square is a8.
This means that the ranks of the squares for the White player count up towards Black, and is reversed for the Black player -- that is the ranks count down towards white for the Black player.
Ranks, Files, Diagonals and Square Names
Ranks, Files, Diagonals and Square Names
Ranks are named rows on the board. All the squares in that row are on that rank.
The red row is the 7th rank.
The yellow row is the 5th rank.
What do we call the green row?
Files are named columns on the board. All squares in that column are on that file.
The green column is the b-file.
The yellow column is the d-file.
What do we call the red file?
Diagonals are named diagonals that are all squares of the same color that run between ranks and files.
The green diagonal that starts at a2 and goes to g8 is called the a2/g8 diagonal.
The green diagonal that starts in h5 and goes to e8 is called the h5\e8 diagonal.
Diagonals run in either / direction or \ direction.
Alternatively, diagonals can be specified from the side to move. For white all diagonals will run towards Black and vice versa for Black they all run towards White.
For example, if the Black player is describing the yellow diagonals, they would be referred to as either the a7/g1, or the h4/e1 diagonal.
Square Names
Here the square we are interested in is the highlighted red square. We see that it is on the e-file marked in yellow, and the 4th rank marked in green. Following each of these lines we see that the intersection in located at e4.
This is the name of the highlighted red square: e4.
All squares are located on a a file and rank intersection. A Square Name is the letter of the file the square is located on with the number of the rank the square is located on. We have seen a square name before. What is the name of the square on the lower right hand side of the board for White? h1. For Black?
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