Below is a possible solution to problem posed in Challenge 3 – Generate a Chessboard in Excel
1. Select B2 to I9 starting with B2.
2. Home tab > Conditional Formatting > New Rule > Use a formula to determine which cells to format and put following formula and choose Black Fill Colour
=MOD(ROW()+COLUMN()+1,2)
3. Select your rows and drag them wide so that cells look square (or adjust both row and column sizes as per your size requirements to make them square).
How to make cells perfect square – View tab > Page Layout View > Select all required columns > Right Click > Column Width > and you can give proper values or retain existing values.
Select all required rows > Right Click > Row Height > and you can give proper values or give the value which was in Column Width.
Now what you have is almost perfect square. Since you adjusted your size on the basis of inches or millimeters but pixels may not be be exactly equal.
Come back to normal view. Select the divider between two columns and note down pixel.
Select all rows of the grid and select the divider between 2 rows and see if pixels are equal or not. If not, drag them to make them equal.
4. While B2:I9 is selected, apply thick box border.
Solution workbook can be downloaded from here – Solution – Challenge 3 – Generate a Chessboard in Excel