Checkers Strategy: Rules, Who Moves First and Is It Solved?
Checkers, called draughts in Britain, is a two-player game played on the dark squares of an 8×8 board. The rules take two minutes to learn, yet the game was only fully solved by computer in 2007. Here are the rules, a fair way to decide who goes first, what the numbers say about the first move, and simple strategy that wins games between ordinary players.
Rules
- Each player has 12 pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest to them. The board is placed so each player has a dark square in their bottom-left corner.
- Under the standard rules, the player with the dark pieces moves first. Players then take turns.
- A normal piece moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square.
- To capture, jump diagonally over an opponent’s piece onto the empty square just behind it, and remove the jumped piece. If another jump is possible from the landing square, you must keep jumping in the same turn.
- Captures are compulsory: if you can jump, you must, though you may choose which jump to make when there is more than one.
- A piece that reaches the far row becomes a king (put a second piece on top of it). Kings move and jump diagonally forward and backward. In the standard rules, a piece that is crowned during a jump ends its turn there.
- You win when your opponent has no pieces left or cannot make a legal move. If neither side can make progress, the game is a draw.
Who Moves First?
Moving first gives no big edge in checkers, but it is still fairer to decide it by chance. Flip a coin flip for the first game: the winner takes the dark pieces and moves first. After that, swap colours every game so each player moves first equally often.
In top-level tournaments even the opening moves are left to chance: the first few moves are drawn at random from a list of approved openings, a system called the three-move ballot, and the two players then play each drawn opening once with each colour. This stops strong players from steering every game into a well-known drawing line.
How Many Ways Can a Game Start?
The first player has 7 possible opening moves, and the number of ways a game can go grows quickly from there. We counted every legal sequence with a small computer program:
| Moves played | Possible games |
|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |
| 2 | 49 |
| 3 | 302 |
| 4 | 1,469 |
| 5 | 7,361 |
| 6 | 36,768 |
| 7 | 179,740 |
The full game has roughly 500 billion billion possible positions, which is why solving it took years of computer time.
Is Checkers Solved?
Yes. In 2007 a team led by Jonathan Schaeffer at the University of Alberta, using its program Chinook, published a proof that checkers is a draw with perfect play from both sides. In plain words: neither player can force a win if the other never makes a mistake. In real games people make mistakes all the time, so the game is still very much alive.
For comparison, tic-tac-toe is also a draw with perfect play, while Connect Four is a win for the first player.
What If Both Players Move at Random?
We played 20,000 games in which both sides picked a random legal move every turn:
| Result | Share |
|---|---|
| First player wins | 49.5% |
| Second player wins | 50.5% |
| Average length | 71 moves |
Moving first made almost no difference, and the result was effectively a coin toss. Skill is what changes the outcome, which makes the tips below worth knowing.
Simple Strategy That Works
- Control the centre: pieces in the middle of the board have more moves and can support each other.
- Keep your back row: leave pieces on your home row as long as you can so your opponent cannot easily crown a king.
- Move in pairs: a piece with a friend behind it cannot be jumped from that side.
- Use forced captures: because jumps are compulsory, you can offer one piece to pull an enemy piece into a spot where you then jump two.
- Trade when ahead: when you have more pieces, swapping one for one makes your lead count for more.
- Get a king early: a king can attack from both directions and is worth much more than a normal piece.
- Watch for multi-jumps: before every move, check whether it leaves a chain of pieces your opponent could jump in one turn.
Common Variations
- Flying kings: in many international versions, kings can move any number of empty squares along a diagonal.
- Backward captures: some versions let normal pieces capture backward too.
- International draughts: played on a 10×10 board with 20 pieces each.
- Giveaway checkers: the aim is to lose all your pieces first.
If you like solved games and strategy, try Nim or Mancala next.
FAQ
Who moves first in checkers?
Under the standard rules, the player with the dark pieces moves first. Flip a coin for the first game, then swap colours each game.
Do you have to jump in checkers?
Yes, in standard checkers captures are compulsory. If you can jump, you must, and you must continue a multi-jump if another jump is available.
Is checkers a solved game?
Yes. In 2007 the Chinook team at the University of Alberta proved that checkers is a draw with perfect play from both players.
Does the first player have an advantage in checkers?
Very little. With perfect play the game is a draw, and in our 20,000 random games the first player won about 49.5% of the time.
How do you get a king in checkers?
Move one of your pieces all the way to the far row. It is crowned with a second piece on top and can then move forward and backward.