They probably have to enforce the rules of movement for all of the pieces. It's a good excersize for a second year student, it's not quite as simple as it may seem. For example you might think that if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opponent, then the opponent is killed. But this is only true if the piece is not a pawn, unless the pawn is moving diagonlly by one, but it can only move diagonally by one if an opponent is there. And pieces can't move through others, unless it's a knight etc, etc....Originally Posted by Bubba
As for failing, that's the point of exams, to test your knowledge. Doing the assignments (even correctly, which you claim you didn't) doesn't mean much if you don't understand the concepts.
Usually you can only appeal if you feel you were graded unfairly. If you straight up failed the exams, you're probably going to have to take the course again.