Checkers Tournaments
Want more than a casual game? You can already play rated, ranked checkers against real opponents here, and organised tournaments are on the way. This page covers how to compete today, what's still being built, and how the official championships work.
Compete right now: rated, ranked play
You don't have to wait for a tournament to play for something. Every online quick match on the site is rated. Beat another player and your rating goes up; the closer the game is to your level, the more each result counts. Each variant keeps its own rating, and one overall rating pools your draughts games into a single headline number.
The leaderboard turns those ratings into a ranking, with a board for the overall rating and one for every variant. Play enough rated games, climb high enough, and that's your name near the top. It's the closest thing to a standings table until scheduled events arrive.
New to how the number moves? The ratings guide covers what counts as a rated game, why your first few games swing more, and how matchmaking finds you a fair opponent.
Organised tournaments: coming
Scheduled brackets (sign up, get drawn against an opponent, win to advance) are a build we're planning rather than one that's live. Tournaments only work when enough players turn up at the same time, so this one waits until the regular player base is large enough to fill a bracket and keep the wait between rounds short.
You can help it get here sooner just by playing. Sign in and your rating and handle carry across devices, so when tournaments open you're already set up to enter and be seeded by rating. There's no separate signup or waitlist to worry about; a rated account is all you'll need.
Official checkers tournaments
Competitive checkers has a long history off this site. If you came looking for the real-world championships rather than a game to play, this is the short version.
American checkers (English draughts) is governed by the American Checkers Federation (ACF) and the World Checkers Draughts Federation (WCDF), which run national and world championships. Serious play uses the three-move restriction: the game's first three moves are drawn at random from a set list, which pushes players out of a handful of memorised openings and into the wider game.
International draughts, played on the 10×10 board, sits under the FMJD (Fédération Mondiale du Jeu de Dames, the world draughts federation), which organises its own world championships. Other national games (Russian, Brazilian and the rest) have their own federations and titles too.
Want to learn the variant these championships are played in before you enter one of ours? Each game has a full rules page, and the variants comparison lays out how they differ.
Tournaments FAQ
Can I play checkers tournaments online here?
Not organised brackets yet. What you can do today is play rated online matches: every quick game against another person moves a skill rating, and the leaderboard ranks the best players in each variant. Scheduled tournaments are a planned feature once enough people are playing regularly.
Are there real checkers tournaments?
Yes. American checkers has national and world championships run by the American Checkers Federation (ACF) and the World Checkers Draughts Federation (WCDF), traditionally played under the three-move restriction. International draughts sits under the FMJD, the world draughts federation, which runs its own world championships.
How do I compete at checkers online?
Hit Play Online, pick a variant, and get matched with someone near your rating. Win and your rating climbs; string together wins and you climb the leaderboard. Sign in and that rating follows you across devices instead of living in one browser.
Is there a world checkers championship?
There is. The American-style world title is contested under the WCDF and ACF; the international (10×10) world championship runs under the FMJD. Both are long-running competitive circuits with their own qualifying play.
Do I need an account to compete?
No. Guests get a rating and level-matched games straight away. You only need to sign in to appear on the leaderboard, since a guest rating lives in a single browser and can be wiped. It takes a few seconds and is free.