8. An $8 \times 8$ chessboard is colored in the usual way, with 32 black squares and 32 white squares. A "path" consists of 8 white squares, one in each row, and adjacent white squares share a common vertex. The number of such paths is $\qquad$.
8. 296

We can use the number labeling method:
\begin{tabular}{cccccccc}
1 & Black & 1 & Black & 1 & Black & 1 & Black \\
Black & 2 & Black & 2 & Black & 2 & Black & 1 \\
2 & Black & 4 & Black & 4 & Black & 3 & Black \\
Black & 6 & Black & 8 & Black & 7 & Black & 3 \\
6 & Black & 14 & Black & 15 & Black & 10 & Black \\
Black & 20 & Black & 29 & Black & 25 & Black & 10 \\
20 & Black & 49 & Black & 54 & Black & 35 & Black \\
Black & 69 & Black & 103 & Black & 89 & Black & 35
\end{tabular}

Therefore, there are $69+103+89+35=296$ (ways).