A checkerboard is a square board divided into 64 squares arranged in eight rows and eight columns, with the squares alternating between two colors, traditionally red and black or white and black. The pattern creates a distinctive grid where no two squares of the same color touch along their sides.

Checkerboards are used for playing checkers, a strategy game where players move circular pieces diagonally across the board, trying to capture their opponent's pieces by jumping over them. The same board is also used for chess, though chess uses different pieces and more complex rules.

The word checkerboard describes the game board itself and also any pattern that alternates in this way. You might see a checkerboard pattern on a kitchen floor, a race flag, or even in farmland viewed from an airplane, where fields of different crops create alternating squares. The checkerboard pattern is so distinctive that people immediately recognize it: regular, orderly squares that create a rhythm of light and dark.

The simple geometry of a checkerboard makes it perfect for strategy games, where players need to track positions and plan moves across a clear, organized space.