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In how many ways can $n$ queens be placed on an $n \times n$ chessboard so that no two queens attack each other? This is the famous $n$-queens problem. Let $Q(n)$ denote the number of such configurations, and let $T(n)$ be the number of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-05-17 Zur Luria

Quint and Shubik (1997) conjectured that a non-degenerate n-by-n game has at most 2^n-1 Nash equilibria in mixed strategies. The conjecture is true for n at most 4 but false for n=6 or larger. We answer it positively for the remaining case…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-11-25 Constantin Ickstadt , Thorsten Theobald , Bernhard von Stengel

The $n$ queens problem considers the maximum number of safe squares on an $n \times n$ chess board when placing $n$ queens; the answer is only known for small $n$. Miller, Sheng and Turek considered instead $n$ randomly placed rooks,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-12-09 Caroline Cashman , Joseph Cooper , Raul Marquez , Steven J. Miller , Jenna Shuffelton

We introduce a two player game on an n x n chessboard where queens are placed by alternating turns on a chessboard square whose availability is determined by the number of queens already on the board which can attack that square modulo two.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-10-13 Tricia Muldoon Brown , Abrahim Ladha

Parts I-IV showed that the number of ways to place $q$ nonattacking queens or similar chess pieces on an $n\times n$ chessboard is a quasipolynomial function of $n$ whose coefficients are essentially polynomials in $q$. For partial queens,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-06-16 Seth Chaiken , Christopher R. H. Hanusa , Thomas Zaslavsky

The $n$-queens puzzle is to place $n$ mutually non-attacking queens on an $n \times n$ chessboard. We present a simple two stage randomized algorithm to construct such configurations. In the first stage, a random greedy algorithm constructs…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-07-12 Zur Luria , Michael Simkin

A famous (and hard) chess problem asks what is the maximum number of safe squares possible in placing $n$ queens on an $n\times n$ board. We examine related problems from placing $n$ rooks. We prove that as $n\to\infty$, the probability…

Probability · Mathematics 2021-05-11 Steven J. Miller , Haoyu Sheng , Daniel Turek

Infinite chess is chess played on an infinite edgeless chessboard. The familiar chess pieces move about according to their usual chess rules, and each player strives to place the opposing king into checkmate. The mate-in-n problem of…

Logic · Mathematics 2012-05-17 Dan Brumleve , Joel David Hamkins , Philipp Schlicht

Epiphainein counts unreachable single-side pawn diagrams (in chess) where pawns can move forward or diagonally-forward without limit whilst remaining on the board. Epiphainein is a serial calculation and takes a few seconds to calculate the…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2022-02-02 Colin McDonagh

A placement of chess pieces on a chessboard is called dominating, if each free square of the chessboard is under attack by at least one piece. In this contribution we compute the number of dominating arrangements of $k$ rooks on an $n\times…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-03-12 Stephan Mertens

We consider the minimum number of lines $h_n$ and $p_n$ needed to intersect or pierce, respectively, all the cells of the $n \times n$ chessboard. Determining these values can also be interpreted as a strengthening of the classical plank…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-07-31 Gergely Ambrus , Imre Bárány , Péter Frankl , Dániel Varga

We further study sets of labeled dice in which the relation "is a better die than" is non-transitive. Focusing on sets with an additional symmetry we call "balance," we prove that sets of $n$ such $m$-sided dice exist for all $n,m \geq 3$.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-06-29 Alex Schaefer

In this paper, we use techniques of enumerative combinatorics to study the following problem: we count the number of ways to split $n$ balls into nonempty, ordered bins so that the most crowded bin has exactly $k$ balls. We find closed…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-05-25 Vedant Bonde , Joshua M. Siktar

How many mutually non-attacking queens can be placed on a d-dimensional chessboard of size n? The n-queens problem in higher dimensions is a generalization of the well-known n-queens problem. We provide a comprehensive overview of…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-06-11 Tim Kunt

We present properties and invariants of Hamiltonian circuits in rectangular grids. It is proved that all circuits on a $2n \times 2n$ chessboard have at least $4n$ turns and at least $2n$ straights if $n$ is even and $2n+2$ straights if $n$…

General Mathematics · Mathematics 2021-04-07 Rüdiger Jehn

We address the problem of finding sets of integers of a given size with a maximum number of pairs summing to powers of $2$. By fixing particular pairs, this problem reduces to finding a labeling of the vertices of a given graph with…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-11-26 Max A. Alekseyev

On the n x n chessboard, the move totals of distinct pieces satisfy a small number of striking arithmetic identities. The total diagonal mobility of the bishop and the total 8-neighbor mobility of the king are exactly proportional, with…

General Mathematics · Mathematics 2026-05-21 Frank M. V. Feys

The $n$-queens problem is to determine $\mathcal{Q}(n)$, the number of ways to place $n$ mutually non-threatening queens on an $n \times n$ board. We show that there exists a constant $\alpha = 1.942 \pm 3 \times 10^{-3}$ such that…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-11-28 Michael Simkin

An $n$-queens configuration is a placement of $n$ mutually non-attacking queens on an $n\times n$ chessboard. The $n$-queens completion problem, introduced by Nauck in 1850, is to decide whether a given partial configuration can be…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-06-01 Stefan Glock , David Munhá Correia , Benny Sudakov

In this paper we enumerate the number of ways of selecting $k$ objects from $n$ objects arrayed in a line such that no two selected ones are separated by $m-1,2m-1,...,pm-1$ objects and provide three different formulas when $m,p\geq 1$ and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2008-05-12 Toufik Mansour , Yidong Sun