Checkers Blog
Strategy guides and tips to help you play better checkers.
- Checkers Jumping Rules: Forced Jumps, Double Jumps and More
Checkers jumping rules explained: you must jump when you can, you can double or triple jump, men can't jump backward, and you can never jump your own piece.
- Checkers King Rules: How Kings Move, Jump and Get Crowned
A checkers king moves and jumps one square diagonally, forward or backward. How crowning works, why a jump ends when you crown, and how variants differ.
- Stalemate in Checkers: What Happens When You Can't Move?
There is no stalemate in checkers. If it's your turn and you can't move, you lose. How checkers games end, the draw rules, and how the variants differ.
- Is Checkers Solved? Yes, and Here Is What That Means
Yes. In 2007 a University of Alberta team proved that checkers is a draw with perfect play. What solved means, how Chinook did it, and whether chess is next.
- Is Draughts the Same as Checkers? Names and Rules Explained
Yes: English draughts and American checkers are one game with two names. But draughts can also mean International draughts and other variants.
- Checkers vs Chess: The Differences, and Which Is Harder
Checkers vs chess compared: pieces, captures, how each game ends, which came first, which is harder, and why only one of them has been solved by a computer.
- The Chinese Checkers Paradox: Not Chinese, Not Checkers
The Chinese Checkers paradox: the star-board marble game is German Stern-Halma, renamed in the US in 1928, and with no captures it isn't checkers.
- The History of Checkers: From Alquerque to the World Championships
How checkers grew from the old Arabic game Alquerque into dozens of national variants, from the first printed book in 1547 Spain to today's FMJD world titles.
- Why International Draughts Has a Draw Problem (and What Players Have Done About It)
Top-level International Draughts games end drawn at chronic rates. Here's why, how the FMJD's draw law handles it, and the variants built to fix it.
- Pool Checkers vs American Checkers: Same Board, Different Game
Pool and American Checkers share an 8x8 board and 12 pieces each. Backward captures and flying kings make them play nothing alike. Here's the full comparison.
- Checkers Strategy for Beginners: 5 Winning Fundamentals
Checkers strategy for beginners: five positional habits that win games, from controlling the center and holding your back row to trading pieces well.
- American Checkers vs. International Draughts
American Checkers and International Draughts are the two most popular variants of this strategy board game for two players — here's how the board size, piece count, first move, and capture rules differ.
- 5 Ways to Win Quickly at Brazilian Draughts!
Five effective strategies for Brazilian Draughts: forcing shots, using the flying king, backward captures, well-timed sacrifices, and the majority-capture rule.
- 5 Ways to Win at Checkers Fast (Shots, Opposition, Kings)
How to win at checkers fast: force a shot, attack lonely pieces, take the opposition, block your opponent, and get the first king. Five fast tactics.
- 5 Ways to Win Quickly at International Draughts!
Five tactics for winning International Draughts games faster: backward captures, the majority-capture rule, flying kings, cutting off pieces, and sacrificing into your opponent's king.
- The Top 10 Female Draughts Players in the World
Meet the world's ten highest-rated female international draughts players, from two-time world champion Natalia Sadowska to Estonia's veteran comeback player Anneli Veski.
- The Top 10 Draughts Players in the World
Meet the world's ten highest-rated international draughts grandmasters, from long-reigning world champion Alexander Georgiev to rising Dutch talent Jan Groenendijk.
- Simultaneous Blindfold Exhibitions in Draughts
The story of two outstanding Dutch draughts masters, Ton Sijbrands and Erno Prosman, who broke records competing in blindfold simultaneous exhibitions — playing dozens of games entirely in their heads.
- The Origins of Draughts: From Ancient Egypt to the 1756 Rules
Senet was played in Egypt around 2700 BC; William Payne wrote the first official draughts rules in 1756. A timeline of where checkers came from, and when.