Combinatorics - Grids and chessboards

Canada IMO Camp, Winter 2020

Mike Pawliuk

January 9, 2020

1 Introduction
The following problems involve grids or chessboards.

2 Important techniques
Theorem 2.1. Given a large enough n × n grid, every colouring of the unit-
squares using k colours will contain a rectangle (with grid corners) where all
corners are the same colour.

This proof is called a product colouring argument. It will give us a

horrible bound of n ≥ k k+1 + 1. 1

Proof. In a given column with k + 1 rows, the pigeonhole principle tells us

that two of the squares must be the same colour. There are k k+1 ways to
colour a (k + 1) × 1 grid. So with k k+1 + 1 columns, by the pigeonhole
principle we must have two identically coloured columns.
So in a (k k+1 + 1) × (k + 1) grid, every colouring using k colours will
have two identically coloured columns with k + 1 rows. So both columns
will have a pair of matching colours in identical rows. That is our desired
rectangle.

By repeating this again, we can get that for a large enough n, every
n × n × n box will contain a rectangular box where all corners are the same
colour.
1
You can read about the rectangle-free 4 colouring of a
17 × 17 grid here: https://mathlesstraveled.com/2012/02/09/
17x17-4-coloring-with-no-monochromatic-rectangles/

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Corollary 2.2 (Gallai). For a fixed number of colours k, there is an n (a
function of k) such that every colouring of an n × n grid using k colours
contains a square all of whose corners are the same.

The bounds for the previous theorem are very bad.

Example 2.3. By introducing tilings or grid colourings into problems we

can often find invariants in the problem. For example, the checkerboard
tiling can be useful, or more generally the colouring χ(i, j) = (i + j) mod n
for some relevant n (like 4).
This shows that the five unique tetris pieces cannot form a rectangle
with area 20, since such a rectangle would contain an equal amount of red
and black squares. However, all tetris pieces contain an equal amount of red
and black squares except the T piece.
By introducing the checkerboard colouring, combined with the adjacent-
edge graph (every unit square is a node, place an edge on unit squares that
share an edge) we see that this is a bipartite graph whose bipartition is
given by the checkerboard colouring. You can then use facts about bipartite
graphs, such as they have no odd cycles.
The colouring should be chosen to help you identify a mathematical
invariant in the problem. This can be useful when the question describes a
procedure or game or movement of a piece on the board.

Example 2.4. In problems that involve conditions on grids with labels

like “every column and every row has some property”, it can be helpful
to consider the bipartite graph associated to the grid as follows: Let the
vertices be V = R ∪ C where R is the collection of rows, C is the collection
of columns. For the edges, we have some choice, but it’s common to place
an edge between a row ri and a column cj if the label ai,j has some relevant
property.
Doing this allows you to use facts about bipartite graphs (no odd cycles),
and potentially use Hall’s Marriage theorem.

3 Worked Problem
Theorem 3.1 (Vietnam 2007 Shortlist). A unit square is dissected into
n > 1 rectangles such that their sides are parallel to the sides of the square.
Any line, parallel to a side of the square and intersecting its interior, also
intersects the interior of some rectangle. Prove that one of the rectangles
has no point on the boundary of the square.

2
 This solution appears in Crux, Feb 2012, solved by Oliver Geupe.

Proof. Suppose we have a counterexample with a minimal n.

Consider the rectangle ABCD that contains the corner A of the unit
square. By assumption, one of BC or CD must have an extension beyond
C. WLOG, assume CD extends until EF , which is parallel to BC.

Now the edge BC cannot be shared with another rectangle R, otherwise it

would violated the minimality of the counterexample (by combining R and
ABCD). So there is a point G on the line BC such that GH is the edge of
a rectangle parallel to CD.
Thus there must be a rectangle R containing the point C that is con-
tained in the rectangle with sides CE and CG. This R is completely in the
interior of the unit square, a contradiction.

4 Problems
4.1 Warm-up Problems
These questions are below the level of the IMO, but are meant to get you
thinking about grids.

1. [India 2006] Some 46 squares are randomly chosen from a 9 × 9 chess

board and colored in red. Show that there exists a 2 × 2 block of 4
squares of which at least three are colored in red.

2. [CMO 2005] Consider an equilateral triangle of side length n, which

is divided into unit triangles, as shown. Let f (n) be the number of
paths from the triangle in the top row to the middle triangle in the

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 bottom row, such that adjacent triangles in our path share a common
edge and the path never travels up (from a lower row to a higher row)
or revisits a triangle. An example of one such path is illustrated below
for n = 5. Determine the value of f (2005).

3. [USAMO 1998] A 98 × 98 chess board has the squares colored alter-

nately black and white in the usual way. A move consists of selecting a
rectangular subset of the squares (with boundary parallel to the sides
of the board) and changing their color. What is the smallest number
of moves required to make all the squares black?
https://mks.mff.cuni.cz/kalva/usa/usoln/usol984.html

4. [Czech and Slovak Olympiad 2007] A stone is placed in a square

of a chessboard with n rows and n columns. We can alternately
undertake two operations:
(a) move the stone to a square that shares a common side with the
square in which it stands;
(b) move it to a square sharing only one common vertex with the
square in which it stands.
In addition, we are required that the first step must be (b). Find all
integers n such that the stone can go through a certain path visiting
every square exactly once. (This path need not start at a corner of
the chessboard.)

4.2 USAMO Problems

1. [USAMO 2000] How many squares of a 1000 × 1000 chessboard can
be chosen, so that we cannot find three chosen squares with two in the
same row and two in the same column?
https://mks.mff.cuni.cz/kalva/usa/usoln/usol004.html

2. [USAMO 1999] Certain squares of an n × n board are colored black

and the rest white. Every white square shares a side with a black

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 square. Every pair of black squares can be joined by chain of black
squares, so that consecutive members of the chain share a side. Show
2
that there are at least n 3−2 black squares.
https://mks.mff.cuni.cz/kalva/usa/usoln/usol991.html

4.3 Other Problems

1. Let f (n) be the number of ways to colour the unit squares of a 2 × n
grid using black and white such that there are no black squares that
are diagonally adjacent. Note f (1) = 4 and f (2) = 9. Find f (n).

2. [Iran 2003] Assume that we have a n × n table and we fill it with

the numbers 1, . . . , n such that each number appears exactly n times.
√
Prove that there exist a row or column such with at least n different
numbers.

3. [Russian 2002] Can the cells of a 2002 × 2002 table be filled with the
numbers from 1 to 20022 (one per cell) so that for any cell we can find
three numbers a, b, c in the union of the same row and column with
a = bc?

4. [Russian 2002] Eight rooks are placed on an 8 × 8 chessboard, so that

there is just one rook in each row and column. Show that we can find
four rooks, A, B, C, D, so that the distance between the centers of the
squares containing A and B equals the distance between the centers
of the squares containing C and D.

5. [China 1999] A 4 × 4 × 4 cube is composed of 64 unit cubes. The faces

of 16 unit cubes are to be coloured red. A colouring is called interest-
ing if there is exactly 1 red unit cube in every 1 × 1 × 4 rectangular
box composed of 4 unit cubes. Determine the number of interesting
colourings.

6. [ITAMO 2009] A natural number k is said to be n-squared if by

colouring the squares of a 2n × k chessboard, in any manner, with
n different colours, we can find 4 separate unit squares of the same
colour, the centers of which are vertices of a rectangle having sides
parallel to the sides of the board. Determine, as a function of n, the
smallest natural number k that is n-squared.

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4.4 IMO Problems
1. [IMO Shortlist 1999] Let n be an even positive integer. We say that
two different cells of a n × n board are neighboring if they have a
common side. Find the minimal number of cells on the n × n board
that must be marked so that any cell (marked or not marked) has a
marked neighboring cell.
2. [IMO Shortlist 2005] Consider a m × n rectangular board consisting
of mn unit squares. Two of its unit squares are called adjacent if
they have a common edge, and a path is a sequence of unit squares in
which any two consecutive squares are adjacent. Two paths are called
non-intersecting if they don’t share any common squares.
Each unit square of the rectangular board can be colored black or
white. We speak of a coloring of the board if all its mn unit squares
are colored.
Let N be the number of colorings of the board such that there exists
at least one black path from the left edge of the board to its right edge.
Let M be the number of colorings of the board for which there exist at
least two non-intersecting black paths from the left edge of the board
to its right edge.
Prove that N 2 ≥ M · 2mn .
3. [IMO 2010] Each of the six boxes B1 , B2 , B3 , B4 , B5 , B6 initially
contains one coin. The following operations are allowed
Type 1) Choose a non-empty box Bj , 1 ≤ j ≤ 5, remove one coin from
Bj and add two coins to Bj+1 ;
Type 2) Choose a non-empty box Bk , 1 ≤ k ≤ 4, remove one coin
from Bk and swap the contents (maybe empty) of the boxes Bk+1 and
Bk+2 .
Determine if there exists a finite sequence of operations of the allowed
types, such that the five boxes B1 , B2 , B3 , B4 , B5 become empty,
2010
while box B6 contains exactly 20102010 coins.
4. [IMO Shortlist 1998] A rectangular array of numbers is given. In each
row and each column, the sum of all numbers is an integer. Prove that
each nonintegral number x in the array can be changed into either
dxe or bxc so that the row-sums and column-sums remain unchanged.
(Note that dxe is the least integer greater than or equal to x, while
bxc is the greatest integer less than or equal to x.)

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5. [IMO Shortlist 2009] For an integer m ≥ 1, we consider partitions of a
2m × 2m chessboard into rectangles consisting of cells of a chessboard,
in which each of the 2m cells along one diagonal forms a separate
rectangle of side length 1. Determine the smallest possible sum of
rectangle perimeters in such a partition.

6. [IMO Shortlist 2009] On a 999 × 999 board a limp rook can move in
the following way: From any square it can move to any of its adjacent
squares, i.e. a square having a common side with it, and every move
must be a turn, i.e. the directions of any two consecutive moves must
be perpendicular. A non-intersecting route of the limp rook consists of
a sequence of pairwise different squares that the limp rook can visit in
that order by an admissible sequence of moves. Such a non-intersecting
route is called cyclic, if the limp rook can, after reaching the last square
of the route, move directly to the first square of the route and start
over.
How many squares does the longest possible cyclic, non-intersecting
route of a limp rook visit?