Checkerboard

A checkerboard or chequerboard (see spelling differences) is a board of chequered pattern on which English draughts (checkers) is played. It is an 8×8 board and the 64 squares are of alternating dark and light color, often red and black.

The term checkerboard is also used to denote any rectangular square-tiled board. In this sense it refers not to a physical board as such but to the mathematical abstraction of such a board. The adjective chequered refers to the pattern shown in many locations, such as the checkered flag used to signify the end of a vehicle race, the Purina logo, or the livery on some emergency service vehicles. However when this pattern is used on such vehicles, in certain countries, it is called a Sillitoe Tartan. The checkerboard is also closely associated with national symbols of the nation of Croatia.

The checkerboard pattern is often associated with the Ska music genre, for breaking the racial barrier between black and whites at the time. A checkerboard marking painted on a hilltop was used as visual guidance on Hong Kong's old Kai Tak Airport. Many taxicabs also use a checkerboard pattern.