Two ways to print a checkerboard

checkerboard.py

def printboard1(chars, squares):
	def boardchar(row, col):
		return " X"[(row^col) & 1]

	print "-" * (chars * squares + 2)
	for row in range(squares):
		contents = "".join(boardchar(row, col) * chars for col in range(squares))
		print ("|" + contents + "|\n") * chars,
	print "-" * (chars * squares + 2)

def printboard2(chars, squares):
	def boardchar(x, y):
		if y in [-1, chars * squares]:
			return "-"
		elif x in [-1, chars * squares]:
			return "|"
		elif (x / chars + y / chars) % 2:
			return "X"
		else:
			return " "

	coordinatesrange = range(-1, chars * squares + 1)
	for y in coordinatesrange:
		print "".join(boardchar(x, y) for x in coordinatesrange)

print "Get ready to make your checkerboard!"
chars = input("Please enter characters per square: ")
squares = input("Please enter squares per side: ")

printboard1(chars, squares)
printboard2(chars, squares)