The technical process of producing a Chess-board is therefore very simple, and the logical conception, neither is apprehension of the board complicated. The perception of the 64 squares by the eye is not so easy, but it has been facilitated by the use of colour. The squares are alternately coloured black and white, so that from time immemorial the Chess-board looks as follows:
It is of importance that the student of Chess should know the board very accurately; he should be able to visualise each square in its individual position as well as in its relations to its neighbouring squares. For this reason the board has been divided into three regions: the middle and the two wings. The left wing is composed of the first and second line to the left, the right wing in the same way by the two extreme lines on the right hand, and the middle is formed by the four remaining lines, the third, fourth, fifth and sixth. In the centre of this middle, four squares are situated, which form the intersection of the fourth and fifth line with the fourth and fifth row. These four squares in the centre of the board have, for strategic purposes, the greatest significance.
To describe the events on the Chess-board briefly and exactly, a name has been given to every one of the 64 squares; in olden times a descriptive name, in our time, where the science of Nature and of Mathematics has become so prominent, a mathematical name. This mathematical name reminds us of a system of coordinates in the manner as introduced by Descartes. Accordingly, the eight "lines," running upwards, are successively designated by the letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, and the eight "rows," running from left to right, are successively designated by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. The a line, b line ... h line is therefore a certain line; the first row, second row ... eighth row a certain row. Since each square belongs to one line and to one row only, it is unambiguously designated by its line and row. For instance, b5 is that one square on the b line that belongs to the fifth row. According to custom the letter precedes the number; one writes b5, never 5b. Thus this notation has the advantage of naming each square without ambiguity.
Of the other notation, the descriptive one, which is in use in many countries and also in the Anglo-Saxon world, we shall speak more fully later on.
In the mathematical notation, the divison of the board described above would read as follows: the left wing a and b line, the right wing g and h line, the middle c, d, e, f line, the centre d4, d5, e4, e5. The boundary of the board is formed by the a line, the h line, the first row, the eighth row. The corners are a1, a8, h1, h8.
The student should endeavour to acquire the habit of designating the squares and of visualising their position. There are many Chess-players who fail merely from their incapacity to master this geometrical task, not suspecting its value.