BOARD_SIZE = 8 def under_attack(col, queens): left = right = col for r, c in reversed(queens): left, right = left - 1, right + 1 if c in (left, col, right): return True return False def solve(n): if n == 0: return [[]] smaller_solutions = solve(n - 1) return [solution+[(n,i+1)] for i in xrange(BOARD_SIZE) for solution in smaller_solutions if not under_attack(i+1, solution)] for answer in solve(BOARD_SIZE): print answer