If you’re looking for tutorials on how to win at Brazilian Draughts quickly, we’ve got you covered. This article explores five effective strategies that will sharpen your gameplay and enhance your decision-making. These tactics will boost your chances of succeeding swiftly in the captivating world of Brazilian Draughts!

To win a checkers game quickly, you have to gain an advantage. You can achieve superiority on the board by attacking the opponent’s pieces, making shots, creating opportunities for an “opposition,” freezing your rival, and earning a king.

#1 Make a shot!

As you already know, one of the basic rules of checkers says: capture is mandatory! Let’s learn how to use this principle to our advantage.

We must sacrifice a certain number of pieces in order to collect more pawns from our opponent. This tactical play is called a “combination” or “shot.” It is the fastest and most effective way to win checkers games.

Here’s how it can unfold: white sacrifices a first pawn, and black is forced to capture, opening a hole in black’s own formation. White sacrifices a second piece into that hole, and black is forced to capture again — this time taking three of white’s pawns. It looks costly for white, but the resulting position sets up the next tactics on this list.

#2 Use the flying king to your own advantage!

Unlike American checkers, the king in Brazilian Draughts is a “flying king” that can make long captures across the board. It’s wise to use this to your advantage.

For example: white sacrifices a piece, forcing black’s king to capture in one direction. White then sacrifices another piece, forcing that same king to capture again in a specific square. That series of forced captures lets white follow up by capturing two pawns on the way to a king of its own — cutting off every one of black’s remaining pieces in the process. This rule is very beneficial in practice, so it’s worth checking, in any position, whether giving up a pawn to a king could set up a bigger prize.

#3 Use the possibility of backward capturing!

As you already know, capturing backward in American checkers is not possible. In Brazilian rules, it is — so we can build combinations around it.

Picture white sacrificing a piece near the edge of the board, forcing black to capture. White then sacrifices a second piece along that same border column, using the fact that three of white’s pieces are lined up in a row there. Because backward captures are legal, white can now capture three of black’s pieces backward in a single move, putting white very close to winning the game.

#4 Make a “sacrifice” and win!

Sacrificing a piece is one of the hardest moves to find in checkers, since we usually try to protect our material as much as possible. But sometimes a completely winning position appears right after giving up a pawn. Here are two examples.

Example 1 — four pieces against four. White sacrifices a piece, and black is forced to capture. White then plays into the corner, blocking three of black’s remaining pawns. From there, black has no good moves — wherever black plays, it gets captured. Black offers two pawns and plays its last possible move, and white’s only remaining task is to stop black’s advance by creating an “opposition” — trapping black’s last piece just before it can escape, which wins the position outright.

Example 2 — four white pieces against two black pieces and a black king. It looks like this should be an easy win for black, since a king is normally so strong. It isn’t. White has a beautiful double sacrifice available: white gives up a first pawn, then a second, and black is forced to capture both times. After that forced sequence, white can move its last remaining piece safely no matter where black’s pieces are — and black ends up completely blocked. Even with a king on the board, black has no legal move left.

#5 “Majority capture” rule

Last but not least — remember the majority rule! This rule is crucial in Brazilian and International Draughts, since it forces your opponent to capture the largest possible number of pieces, even when that’s the worse option for them.

For example, imagine black attacks one of white’s pawns. White responds by offering up two pieces instead of one. Because the majority rule applies, black cannot simply capture the one piece that would lead to a king — black is forced to capture both pieces instead. That forced choice opens the door for white to capture six of black’s pawns in the pieces that follow. The material advantage is so large that white can even afford to sacrifice one more piece just to block black’s single remaining pawn entirely.

Have you found our tips useful? We certainly hope so! If you manage to work these ideas into your daily games, you’ll see progress quickly. Play a game of Brazilian Checkers and enjoy!