Yes, there are 10 equivalence classes of squares under the action of the 8-fold symmetry group of the chessboard (ignoring the directionality that only affects pawns and castling).
4 of them have 4 squares (the corners of the 4 nested squares of width 8, 6, 4 and 2), the other 6 have 8 squares (the sides of the nested squares)
Hi @Elroch !
Yes - 'nested' squares. As it happens there are a total of 204 large and basic and 'nested' squares on the board.
But unlike the ten square types - I doubt the 204 figure could be of any usefulness in helping players visualize the board and pieces and piece motions and controls of squares.
Regarding the ten square types - there's different ways to define them.
The way that comes most naturally to me is to label them by two numbers:
- The distance to the squares on the edge of the board (0, 1, 2, or 3)
- The distance to a long diagonal (0, 1, 2, or 3)
Not all combinations occur, for obvious reasons. The ones that do are:
(0, 0), (0, 1), (0, 2), (0, 3)
(1, 0), (1, 1), (1, 2)
(2, 0), (2, 1)
(3, 0)
You have previously mentioned another nice choice - the lengths of the two diagonals on which a square lives:
(1, 8), (2, 7) (3, 6), (4, 5)
(3, 8), (4, 7), (5, 6)
(5, 8) (6, 7)
(7, 8)
[Arranged to match the above]
I tried to quote and post a reply to #1087 and got a red banner warning instead.