Russian draughts in details

Russian draughts is the most popular type of the game of checkers in Russia. In Russia, as well as in almost all former Soviet countries this kind of checkers game is familiar to everyone. According to the historians, games similar to modern Russian a checkers, were known to the eastern Slavs in the IV century. Numerous artifacts of archaeological excavations indicate that. Nowadays, Russian draughts have an international status: they are included in the major competitions, such as the World and European Championships. Representatives of more than 40 countries play Russian draughts. What peculiarities does this game have?

Peculiarities

Russian draughts is a famous game that has the following distinctive features:

• Checkers walk only on dark-colored squares.
• The board is positioned so that the corner field at the bottom left of the player’s side is dark.
• The simple checker moves forward and backward, the king moves and strikes on any field diagonally.
• During combat, a simple checker can turn into a king and immediately continue to fight according to the rules of the king.
• If there are several variants of the move, you can choose any of them.

The checkerboard

The checkerboard consists of 64 identical squares. They are divided into light (white) and dark (light brown) fields. The game is played only on the dark squares. The board is placed between partners so that on the left of the player there should be a dark corner field.

When it comes to official competitions, it should be noted that the board must meet the following requirements:

• Its playing surface must be 40 to 45 cm.
• The surface of the board must not be matte, not shiny.
• The alternation of light and dark squares must be distinct, their color must not be too pale and must not merge with the color of the checkers.
• An oblique row of margins from one edge of the board to the other forms a diagonal.

Diagonals that rest at one end against the board’s bottom edge are considered to be lower diagonals and those resting against the board’s top edge are considered to be upper diagonals. The largest of the diagonals consists of eight black squares and crosses the board from left to right. Thus, it is called “the great road”.

Speaking of other diagonals, they possess particular names as well. Two diagonals occupy six black squares in a row and lie on both sides of the big road. Two more diagonals consist of three black fields each and connect the first at the ends form a triplet. The larger diagonals of the tee are called the lower and upper tee, respectively, and the smaller ones are called the lower and upper tee.

The two diagonals intersecting the big road and the tee (7 fields in each) form a double. They are called the lower and upper twin. The two diagonals following the double (5 fields each), together with the diagonals connecting them at the ends (4 fields each) form a joint. Accordingly, they are called lower and upper joint.

The checkers

Before the game starts, each competitor is given 12 simple checkers (they are flat and round in shape): one competitor is given white checkers; the other is given black checkers. Checkers are placed on the black fields of the first three horizontal rows on each side.

The checkers must meet the following requirements:

• All checkers must be the same shape and the same size;
• Their diameter must be less than the board’s margin by 5-10 mm;
• The height of a checker must be 1/4 or 1/5 of its diameter;
• All the white and black pieces must be of the same color, respectively;
• They must not be shiny and their color must not merge with the color of the margins of the checkerboard.

A simple checker moves diagonally one cell forward, while a kingpin moves diagonally to any empty square either forward or backward, but cannot jump its own checkers or queens.

If a simple checker is on the same diagonal next to the opponent’s checker, behind which there is a free field, it must be moved across this checker to the free field. A checker of the opponent in this case is removed from the board. If the kingpin is on the same diagonal beside or at a distance from the opponent’s checker, behind which there are one or more free fields, it should be transferred through this checker to any free field. A checker of the opponent in this case is removed from the board.

The capture of the opponent’s checker is mandatory and is carried out both forward and backward. The capture is considered to be one played move. Taking away your own checkers is prohibited. The capture must be clearly marked and is carried out in a certain order. It is considered to be finished after the removal of an opponent’s checker from the board.

If in the process of the capture a checker again appears on the same diagonal next to another opponent’s checker, behind which there is a free field, it should be moved across the second, third, etc. checkers.

If during the capture the king again appears on the same diagonal next to or at a distance from the opponent’s piece with one or more free squares behind it, the king must be moved across the second, third etc. piece and occupy any free square on the same diagonal behind the last captured piece.

After the capture, the opponent’s taken pieces are removed from the board in the order of their capture. This is called “the sequential capture”.

Victory

The game is considered won in the following cases:

• If one of the opponents has beaten all the checkers;
• If one of the participants declared that he gives up;
• If one of the participants expired time;
• If all checkers on the board are immobilized.

In tournaments it is possible to lose for violation of the rules of using the control clock, for violation of the rules of postponement of the game and failure to comply with discipline.

A game is considered to end in a draw in the following cases:

• If one of the participants offers a draw and the other accepts it;
• If it is impossible to win either of the opponents;
• If the same position is repeated three times;
• If a participant who has three (or more) queens against one opponent’s queen does not take the opponent’s queen in 15 moves;
• If in a position where both opponents have kings, the balance of power has not changed (i.e. there was no capture, and no simple checker became a king) for 15 moves$
• If the participant, having three queens, two queens and a prime, a queen and two middlings, three middlings against a single queen on the big road, with his 5th move cannot achieve the won position;
• If during 15 moves players made moves only with queens, not moving simple checkers and not making a capture.

As you can see, Russian draughts is the game that requires knowing a lot of rules, but in fact, all the rules are easy to follow. This game is very popular not only in Russia, but also in other countries, so if you want to try something new, consider practicing Russian draughts.