swing - Java chess board image not showing -

i'm in process of developing chessboard, issue. i'm trying use image represent chess square. image isn't showing.

this code in question:

//add chess board layered pane  chessboard = new jpanel(); layeredpane.add(chessboard, jlayeredpane.default_layer); chessboard.setlayout( new gridlayout(8, 8) ); chessboard.setpreferredsize( boardsize ); chessboard.setbounds(0, 0, boardsize.width, boardsize.height);  (int = 0; < 64; i++) { jpanel square = new jpanel( new borderlayout() ); chessboard.add( square );  int row = (i / 8) % 2; if (row == 0);  jlabel panel = new jlabel(new imageicon("/users/downloads/pieces/emptysquare.jpg") );  } 

all that's being shown pieces , no squares, in advance.

two things...

first...

your if statement ending in ;

if (row == 0);  

this ignoring statement altogether.

second, never seem add panel ui...

    //...     jlabel panel = new jlabel(new imageicon("/users/downloads/pieces/emptysquare.jpg") );  } // end of for-loop... 

consider using imageio.read instead of imageicon provide more details if image can't loaded. take @ reading/loading image more details...