Checkers Rules Explained: Everything about the Game for the Smartest

Checkers or draughts is a logic board game for two players. Its general principles are represented by moving checkers in an appropriate way across squares that comprise a checkerboard. In a single party, every competitor is given the pieces of the same color: either black or white (sometimes, it is possible to use other colors but one of them must be dark, and the other – light). The main goal of this game is to beat the opponent’s all checkers or deprive him or her of the possibility to make a regular move (it is known as locking). Now, there are a lot of checkers variations that differ according to some rules and dimensions of the checkerboards.

However, there are still some rules that are present in every kind of checkers:

• Prior to the beginning of a party, it is necessary to place all the pieces on the checkerboard. Since then, they can be moved across the checkerboard, and they can leave it only when they are beaten by opponent’s pieces.
• It is obligatory to beat a piece that is under a strike.
• There are only two kinds of pieces: men and kings. At the beginning of a party, all the pieces are men. Nevertheless, every man can turn into a king if it reaches the last horizontal line that is opposite to that from which it started.
• Men can move only forward left or right, i.e., a zigzag manner. As for kings, however, they can move both forward and backward.

Checkerboard

The checkerboard consists of 64 squares (32 black and 32 white ones). The squares should be placed in such a manner that a square of one color borders squares of the other color only.

A party is played across the black squares only. The checkerboard should be placed between opponents in such a manner to make the left corner square be placed from each participant.

When it comes to official competitions, the checkerboards should meet the following requirements:

• their sizes should be 40-45 cm long;
• their surfaces should not be glazing;
• the colors should be contrasting, and it should be easy to determine the borders of each square.

Checkers (Pieces)

Before the beginning of a party, every player is given 12 checkers, i.e., flat and round pieces. As has been stated, there should be 12 white and 12 black checkers. The pieces are placed on the first three horizontal lines of black squares from each end of the checkerboard.

These pieces should meet the following criteria:

• all the checkers should be of the same shape and size;
• their diameter should be smaller by 5-10 mm than a square;
• their thickness is 1/4 or 1/5 of their diameter;
• when it comes to all the pieces of the same color, they should be actually of the same color (similar hues are not acceptable);
• the pieces should be glazing, and they should be contrasting to the squares.

Moves

In a checker party, a move denotes an act of moving a piece from one square to another. The first move in a party is always performed by white pieces. After that, opponents take turns to perform moves until a party is over.

As has been mentioned, there can be men and kings. Once a man reaches the 8th horizontal line, it turns into a king. Kings are marked with double men. To be more exact, once the situation above occurs, a king is marked with two pieces placed on each other. Apart from men, kings can be moved on any square that is on its diagonal lines (both backward and forward). However, it can occupy those squares only that are free.

Thus, a move is said to be performed when a player has moved either a man or a king from one square to another and removed his/her hand. That is why if a player touches a checker that may be moved, he or she is obliged to move this very piece. The exception arises when there is an opponent’s piece that can be beaten by a different checker. In addition, if a player touches his/her checker that cannot be moved because of technical reasons, it does not imply any consequences for the player.

What is more, if a player moves his/her man or king to another square but does not remove a hand from it, he/she has the right to move this very piece to any other possible square provided it does not violate the rules of the game. When it happens that a player wants to correct the position of one or a few pieces on the checkerboard, he/she should loudly announce: “I am correcting”. Nevertheless, the situation above is allowed only when it is this player’s turn to make moves.

Beating

If a man borders an opponent’s piece on the same diagonal line, and there is a free square behind the opponent’s checker, the man should jump over that checker and be placed on that free square. This process is known as beating, and the opponent’s checker is then removed from the checkerboard.

When it comes to kings, the general principles are the same, with the only exception is that a king should not border an opponent’s piece it is going to beat. There can be two or even more free squares between the king and the piece to be beaten. Similarly, the king can be placed on any free square on the diagonal line behind the beaten piece.

As has been stated, it is obligatory to beat the opponent’s pieces when there is such an opportunity. Beating can be directed both forward and downward, while it is not allowed to beat one’s own pieces. A beating move is said to be over when a beaten piece is removed from the checkerboard.

If a beating process results in the situation that a man appears on the same diagonal line close to an opponent’s piece, and there is a free square behind this piece, this beating process should involve the second, third, and further opponent’s beaten checkers. These principles are also working in relation to kings that should not border the opponent’s pieces to beat them.

Coordinate Notation

The coordinate notation is a term that is used to denote squares of the checkerboard. Eight horizontal lines are marked 1 to 8, while eight vertical lines – with lowercase letters from a to h. The letter “a” is used to mark the left vertical line from the point of view of the player who controls white pieces (it is to the right from the point of view of the player who controls the black pieces). Horizontal line 1 is the line that is closest to the player who controls the white checkers.

With this in mind, each square of the checkerboard has its own definition that is denoted by the intersection of a horizontal line and vertical line. Thus, each square is denoted by a combination of a letter and a figure. For example, it refers to a1, b3, d5, and so on. In this case, every single move is written down by mentioning an initial square of a piece and its final point of destination. To be more exact, a single move can be marked as a3-b4. If a player manages to beat an opponent’s checker, there should be a colon between the squares. For instance, it refers to b3:d6.

Possible Outcomes

As has been numerously stated, the main goal in every party is to win an opponent. In some cases, however, athletes can set a goal of achieving a draw. It refers to professional players who have some longstanding strategies for their performance.

Thus, a checker party can be won by a player in the following cases:

• his/her opponent accepts a defeat and surrender;
• an opponent fails to make a move because there are no free squares left for him/her to move one of the pieces on;
• an opponent is left without any checkers;
• an opponent fails to perform a stipulated number of moves over a particular period of time.

At the same time, a party is said to result in a draw in the following cases:

• opponents agree on this outcome (one of them offers to stop on a draw, and the other one accepts this proposition);
• there is a state of affairs when none of the opponents can win in a party (for example, it refers to those situations when each of the opponents has one king left);
• if an opponent has three kings and is playing only against one king and he fails to beat this one king after 15 moves are made.