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8 Queens Problem

Submitted by jay on Wed, 05/09/2007 at 5:32pm.

Ok, so most chess players have heard of and even solved the 8 Queens problem. The purpose of this article is to see just how many unique solutions there are to that problem.

What's the problem?

Arrange 8 queens on a chessboard in such a way that no queen can kill another queen!

If this is the first time you've heard of this puzzle, don't scroll down yet, and try to solve it with your own chessboard. Once you've given up, you can scroll down to see "one" solution to the problem.

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When you post your solution, also post any patterns or logic you used to find it, if any, or if it was totally guess and check randomness. (Also, since our diagrams only allow valid positions to some degree, ignore the kings!)

 

My pattern has to do with going up and over a different # of steps each time...2,3,4,5,6

» posted in Fun & Trivia
 

Comments:

by Krish30 - 2 years ago
Calgary Canada
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 730

sono with eight queens you couldnt make them mate the black king and solve the puzzle to shame

by gvs567 - 3 years ago
India
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 161

It  was  easy.

by jay - 3 years ago
San Jose, CA United States
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 1431
We do, thats how all those people posted their own boards. You could just use the diagram setup tool.
by StoneyBologna - 3 years ago
Columbia, Maryland United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 36
What i came up with in about 30seconds. im mad i walked and found an old chessboard for this :D i could have probably done it with the diagram alone
by airborne82p - 4 years ago
North Pole, AK United States
Member Since: Jun 2007
Member Points: 59

I had a little trouble. I solved it once in about 3-4 minutes? I wasn't timing it. Then I messed up and forgot to save it. lol So, the second time I did it took a bit longer actually. Anyway, good puzzle.

I suppose you all know about the knight's tour puzzle? Very difficult! I haven't solved it yet. 

by Subrosian - 4 years ago
Surrey, BC Canada
Member Since: Jun 2007
Member Points: 106


This is really simple. There are a lot of solutions to it too.

Basically you have to make all of the queens an L-distance away from each other, and all queens have to be on different columns and rows.

by Saske - 4 years ago
MISSION,TX United States
Member Since: Jun 2007
Member Points: 3
IT WAS SO EASY I THINK IT TOOK ME 2 MINCool
by SonofPearl - 4 years ago
Wales
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 11926

Ok, after about 3 minutes I came up with this:

 


 There is a type of symmetry to this.  As I'm a maths graduate I really ought to know what it's called, but I don't! Embarassed I'll just have to describe it instead.  

If you flip the board first vertically and then horizontally then each queen will end up in the same spot as another queen.

i.e. f1=c8, d2=e7, g3=b6 and a4=h5.

I've never tried the puzzle before, but I'm guessing that there are quite a few different solutions? 

by jay - 4 years ago
San Jose, CA United States
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 1431
You can just open up the diagram editor yourself and move the queens around until you find the solution.
by DeepBlue - 4 years ago
Portland, OR United States
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 4
I was hoping that you would have an interactive board for this problem so I could have tried it here at work wihtout needing my own chessboard, or having to do it in my head.
 

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