Checkers
Jump, chain and crown. Captures are compulsory.
About Checkers
This is English draughts, the eight-by-eight game most of the English-speaking world calls checkers. You are Red and move first. Men move one square diagonally forward, and a jump over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square beyond captures it. If a landing square offers another capture, the jump continues — the entire chain counts as one turn.
Captures are compulsory. When a capture is available anywhere on the board, the interface shows only capture moves, because taking is not optional in this ruleset. Reaching the far row crowns a man as a king, which moves and captures in both directions.
The bot finds the long jump chains, which is exactly the skill most human players lack. The review afterwards shows where a forced sequence was available to you and you missed it.
- Players
- 2 players (you + 1 bot)
- Type
- Board game
- Price
- Free
- Account
- Not required
Checkers rules
- 1.You are Red and move first. Men move one square diagonally forward.
- 2.If a capture is available anywhere, you must take one — the board shows only capture moves.
- 3.A jump that lands next to another capture keeps going; the whole chain is one turn.
- 4.Reach the far row to be crowned a king, which moves and captures both directions.
- 5.You lose when you have no pieces left or no legal move.
How to win at Checkers
- Hold the back row
- Your two back-row squares stop enemy men from crowning. Every piece you advance out of the back row is a king you are giving your opponent later, so break that row only for a concrete gain.
- Count the chain before you offer a piece
- Because captures are compulsory, offering a piece forces a specific reply — which you can use. Sacrificing one man to force a jump that sets up a double capture in return is the fundamental winning tactic in draughts.
- Advance as a connected block
- Pieces defending each other diagonally cannot be taken profitably. A single man pushed ahead of the formation is a free capture for anyone who is counting.
- Trade when you are ahead
- With an extra piece, every even trade increases your relative advantage. A two-for-two exchange in a five-versus-four position leaves you three against two, which is a much easier win.
Checkers questions
- Are captures compulsory in this version of checkers?
- Yes. This is the English draughts ruleset, so if a capture is available you must take one. The board shows only capture moves in that situation.
- How does a multiple jump work?
- If your piece lands next to another capturable piece, the jump continues from there. The whole chain is a single turn.
- What can a king do?
- A king moves and captures diagonally in both directions, forward and backward.
- How do I lose?
- You lose when you have no pieces left, or when you have pieces but no legal move available.