The soldiers

I present a curious problem of military tactics for which we will need a 64 -square -shaped chess board. We have to place 16 chips on the board, so that there are no more than two in each row, column or diagonal in any direction. First we will place two officers on the points as close as possible to the center of the board. This will do the problem much simpler, since as soon as we start we will have 2 well -placed men and from there we will only have to place the rest of the men so that in no row there are 3.

If the 16 figures are well placed, a cannon ball that came from any direction could never impact more than two men. It is a very interesting riddle, similar to another in which 8 queens have to be placed on the chess board so that none can kill another.

This riddle is of that kind of problems that are presented to us with seemingly simple statements, but then lead us to brave analyzes that test the patience of those who try to solve them if they do it with the test and error method. However, this method is very valuable in the tradition of the riddle, both in its proposition and in its resolution, and provides us with an invaluable mental training.

Here is the solution: