Advanced Checkers Games
Starting position for on an 8×8 draughts boardYears activeat least 5,000Genre(s)Players2Setup time. Contents.General rules Draughts is played by two opponents, on opposite sides of the gameboard. One player has the dark pieces; the other has the light pieces. Players alternate turns. A player may not move an opponent's piece.
A move consists of moving a piece diagonally to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the adjacent square contains an opponent's piece, and the square immediately beyond it is vacant, the piece may be captured (and removed from the game) by jumping over it.Only the dark squares of the checkered board are used. A piece may move only diagonally into an unoccupied square.
When presented, capturing is mandatory in most official rules, although some rule variations make capturing optional. In almost all variants, the player without pieces remaining, or who cannot move due to being blocked, loses the game.Men Uncrowned pieces ( men) move one step diagonally forwards, and capture an opponent's piece by moving two consecutive steps in the same line, jumping over the piece on the first step. Multiple enemy pieces can be captured in a single turn provided this is done by successive jumps made by a single piece; the jumps do not need to be in the same line and may 'zigzag' (change diagonal direction). In men can jump only forwards; in and men can jump both forwards and backwards.Kings. Starting position in and Portuguese draughtsFlying kings; men can capture backwards International draughts / American Pool checkers family National variantBoard sizePieces per sideDouble-corner or light square on player's near-right?First moveCapture constraintsNotes(or Polish draughts)10×1020YesWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces.Pieces promote only when ending their move on the final rank, not when passing through it.
It is mainly played in the, France, some countries, some parts of, some parts of the, and other European countries.(or damii)10×1020NoWhiteAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made. Overlooking a king's capture opportunity leads to forfeiture of the king.Played in. Having only a single piece remaining (man or king) loses the game.10×1020YesWhiteA sequence of capture must give the maximum 'value' to the capture, and a king (called a wolf) has a value of less than two men but more than one man. If a sequence with a capturing wolf and a sequence with a capturing man have the same value, the wolf must capture. The main difference with the other games is that the captures can be made diagonally, but also straight forwards and sideways.Played primarily in (Dutch province) historically, but in the last decade spreading rapidly over Europe (e.g. The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia) and Africa, as a result of a number of recent international tournaments and the availability of an iOS and Android app 'Frisian Draughts'.12×1230YesWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces.International rules on a 12×12 board. Played mainly in Canada.(or derecha)8×812YesWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces.Played in.
The rules come from international draughts, but board size and number of pieces come from English draughts.In the Philippines, it is known as derecha and is played on a mirrored board, often replaced by a crossed lined board (only diagonals are represented).8×812YesBlackAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.Also called Spanish Pool checkers. It is mainly played in the; traditional among African American players. A man reaching the kings row is promoted only if he does not have additional backwards jumps (as in international draughts). In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in thirteen moves or the game is a draw.8×812YesBlackAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.Similar to Pool checkers with the exception of the main diagonal on the right instead of the left. A man reaching the kings row is promoted only if he does not have additional backwards jumps (as in international draughts).In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in thirteen moves or the game is a draw.8×812YesWhiteAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.Also called or Russian shashki checkers. It is mainly played in the former and in Israel. Rules are similar to international draughts, except:.
a man that enters the kings row during a jump and can continue to jump backwards, jumps backwards as a king, not as a man;. choosing a sequence that captures the maximum possible number of pieces is not required.There is also a 10×8 board variant (with two additional columns labelled i and k) and the give-away variant. There are official championships for shashki and its variants.8×812NoWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. Although, a king has the weight of two pieces, this means with two captures, one of a king and one of piece you must choose the king; two captures, one of a king and one of two pieces, you can choose; two captures with one of a king and one of three pieces you choose the three pieces; two captures, one of two kings and one of three pieces, you choose the kings.Also called 'Dama' or 'Damas'.
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It is played along all of the region of Mozambique. In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in twelve moves or the game is a draw.Flying kings; men cannot capture backwards Spanish draughts family National variantBoard sizePieces per sideDouble-corner or light square on player's near-right?First moveCapture constraintsNotes8×812Light square is on right, but double corner is on left, as play is on the light squares. (Play on the dark squares with dark square on right is Portuguese draughts.)WhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces, and the maximum possible number of kings from all such sequences.Also called Spanish checkers. It is mainly played in, some parts of South America, and some Northern African countries.12×1230YesNot fixedCaptures are mandatory. Failing to capture results in forfeiture of that piece.Mainly played in, and the region nearby.
Also known locally as 'Black–White Chess'. Sometimes it is played on an 8×8 board when a 12×12 board is unavailable; a 10×10 board is rare in this region.8×812YesWhiteIf there are sequences of captures with either a man or a king, the king must be chosen. After that, any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.This variant is from the family of the Spanish game.8×88WhiteAll pieces are long-range.
Jumping is mandatory after first move of the rook. Any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.The uppermost symbol of the cube determines its value, which is decreased after being jumped. Having only one piece remaining loses the game.8×810x101215NoWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces, and the maximum possible number of kings from all such sequences. If both sequences capture the same number of pieces and one is with a king, the king must do.The rules are similar to the Spanish game, but the king, when it captures, must stop after the captured piece, and may begin a new capture movement from there.With this rule, there is no draw with two pieces versus one.8×88YesBlackAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.During a capturing move, pieces are removed immediately after capture. Kings stop on the square directly behind the piece captured and must continue capturing from there, if possible, even in the direction where they have come from.(or Dame)8×812YesBlackAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.Kings stop on the square directly behind the piece captured and must continue capturing from there as long as possible.8×816N/AWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces.Also known as Dama.
All 64 squares are used, dark and light. Men move straight forwards or sideways, instead of diagonally. When a man reaches the last row, it is promoted to a flying king (Dama), which moves like a (or a in the ). The pieces start on the second and third rows.It is played in Turkey, Kuwait, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Greece, and several other locations in the Middle East, as well as in the same locations as Russian checkers. There are several variants in these countries, with the Armenian variant (called tama) allowing also forward-diagonal movement of men.8×812WhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces.Players agree before starting the game between 'Must Capture' or 'Free Capture'.
In the 'Must Capture' type of game, a man that fails to capture is forfeited. In the 'Free Capture' game, capturing is optional.8×812YesNot fixedAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.Captures are mandatory. When either a king or a man can capture, there is no priority.No flying kings; men cannot capture backwards English draughts / American straight checkers family National variantBoard sizePieces per sideDouble-corner or light square on player's near-right?First moveCapture constraintsNotes8×812YesBlackAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.Also called 'straight checkers' or American checkers, since it is also played in the United States.8×812NoWhiteMen cannot jump kings. A sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces.
If more than one sequence qualifies, the capture must be done with a king instead of a man. If more than one sequence qualifies, the one that captures a greater number of kings must be chosen. If there are still more sequences, the one that captures a king first must be chosen.It is mainly played in Italy and some North African countries.(or Altdeutsches Damespiel or Altdeutsche Dame)8×816N/AWhiteCaptures are mandatory.All 64 squares are used, dark and light.
Men move one cell diagonally forward and capture in any of the five cells directly forward, diagonally forward, or sideways, but not backward. Men promote on the last row.
Kings may move and attack in any of the eight directions. There is also a variant with flying kings.Sport. Alquerque board and setupAn Arabic game called Quirkat or al-qirq, with similar play to modern draughts, was played on a 5×5 board. It is mentioned in the 10th-century work. Al qirq was also the name for the game that is now called. Al qirq was brought to Spain by the, where it became known as, the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name.
The rules are given in the 13th-century book. In about 1100, probably in the south of France, the game of Alquerque was adapted using pieces on a.Each piece was called a 'fers', the same name as the, as the move of the two pieces was the same at the time. Crowning. Further information:(American 8×8 checkers) has been the arena for several notable advances in.
In the 1950s, created one of the first board game-playing programs of any kind. More recently, in 2007 scientists at the University of Alberta developed their ' program to the point where it is unbeatable.
Advanced Checkers Game
A approach that took hundreds of computers working nearly two decades was used to the game, showing that a game of draughts will always end in a if neither player makes a mistake. The solution is for the draughts variation called go-as-you-please (GAYP) checkers and not for the variation called three-move restriction checkers. As of December 2007, this makes English draughts the most complex game ever. See also: Computational complexity Checkers is played on an N × N board.It is to determine whether a specified player has a winning strategy. And if a polynomial bound is placed on the number of moves that are allowed in between jumps (which is a reasonable generalization of the drawing rule in standard Checkers), then the problem is in PSPACE, thus it is PSPACE-complete. However, without this bound, Checkers is EXPTIME-complete.However, other problems have only:.
Can one player remove all the other player's pieces in one move (by several jumps)?. Can one player king a piece in one move?See also.References. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. 8 (11th ed.).
Checkers Game
Cambridge University Press.