Heya,
Depending on your setup, I think Arrays are what you are going to want to do. if the board is 5x5 for example, an array with each tile in order will make it easier for you to find the info you need using the index
For example, if tile at index 17 wants to check if it has neighbor, Have it grab
Current index(17) - board widht(5) = Top(12)
Current index(17) + BoardWidth(5) = Bottom(22)
Current Index(17) - 1 = Left(16)
Current Index(17) +1 = Right(18)
You'll need some sanity checks in play in case you get out of range index numbers but that would be a good start.
Hope that helps.