CAT 2017 Slot 2 — DILR Question 23
Answer the following question based on the information given below.
In an 8 × 8 chessboard a queen placed anywhere can attack another piece if the piece is present in the same row, or in the same column or in any diagonal position in any possible 4 directions, provided there is no other piece in between in the path from the queen to that piece.
The columns are labelled a to h (left to right) and the rows are numbered 1 to 8 (bottom to top). The position of a piece given by the combination of column and row labels. For example, position c5 means that the piece is cth column and 5th row.
If the other pieces are only at positions a1, a3, b4, d7, h7 and h8, then from how many positions the queen cannot attack any of the pieces?
Answer & solution
- A
0
- B
3
4
- D
6
âââââââ
All cells in rows 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 and columns A, B, D and H will be eliminated as one of the ways the queen can the attack us from the same row or column. If we check for cell E2, F2, G2 and G5, queen will not be able to attack any of the 6 pieces. So, from a total of 4 positions, the queen cannot attack any of the 6 pieces.
Hence, option (d).