Light square

A chessboard has 64 squares in an eight-by-eight grid. Exactly 32 are light squares, alternating with 32 dark squares, so any two squares sharing an edge have different colors. “Light” describes the square's place in the pattern, not a mandatory physical color.

When the chess set is oriented correctly, the near-right corner for each player is light. Actual boards may use white, cream, buff, pale wood, or another light shade that contrasts clearly with the dark squares.

A square's color never changes during a game. Bishops move diagonally, so each bishop remains on one square color for the entire game. Other pieces may move between light and dark squares whenever their movement permits.