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What Is Checkers?

Checkers — called draughts (pronounced “drafts”) outside North America — is a two-player strategy board game played on an 8x8 checkered board. Each player starts with 12 pieces, and the objective is to capture all of your opponent’s pieces or block them so they can’t move. It’s one of the oldest and most widely played board games in the world, and as of 2007, it’s the most complex game ever computationally solved.

Simple Rules, Real Depth

Checkers gets dismissed as a children’s game. That’s a mistake. The rules are simple — pieces move diagonally forward one square, capture by jumping over an opponent’s piece, and multiple jumps can chain together in a single turn. When a piece reaches the far side of the board, it becomes a king with the ability to move backward.

But simplicity of rules doesn’t mean simplicity of play. The game contains approximately 500 billion billion possible positions (5 x 10^20). Tournament-level checkers involves memorized opening sequences, mid-game tactics, and endgame theory that takes years to master. Marion Tinsley, widely considered the greatest checkers player in history, lost only 7 games in a 45-year career. That’s not a game you can master casually.

Ancient Origins

Games resembling checkers have been found in archaeological sites dating back roughly 5,000 years. A board from the ancient city of Ur (modern Iraq) dates to approximately 3000 BCE. The game Alquerque, played on a 5x5 grid in the medieval Islamic world, is considered a direct ancestor.

The modern game emerged when someone had the insight to play Alquerque-style movement on a chess board. This happened in France around the 12th century — the game was called jeu de dames (game of ladies) and quickly spread across Europe. The rules requiring mandatory jumps were added in the 16th century, adding significant strategic depth.

Different countries developed their own variants. International draughts (10x10 board, 20 pieces per player) is the dominant competitive form worldwide. English draughts (8x8, 12 pieces) is what Americans call checkers. Brazilian, Russian, Turkish, and Italian draughts each have distinct rule variations. They’re all recognizably the same game, with enough differences to create distinct strategic challenges.

Strategy Beyond the Basics

Control the center — Pieces in the center of the board have more movement options and tactical opportunities than pieces on the edges. Beginners often hug the sides; strong players fight for the middle.

The importance of tempo — In checkers, having to move can be a disadvantage (zugzwang). Forcing your opponent to move when every available move weakens their position is a fundamental winning technique. This is why experienced players sometimes sacrifice pieces — the resulting position gives them tempo control.

King-hunting — Getting one king while your opponent has none is usually decisive. Preventing your opponent from kinging while pushing your own pieces forward is a constant tension.

Shot plays — Elaborate combinations where a series of forced jumps (mandatory captures) result in winning material or position. A good shot play can be 5-8 jumps deep, sacrificing pieces early to set up devastating captures later. These sequences are the most exciting plays in competitive checkers.

The bridge position — Two kings positioned correctly can often hold a draw against three kings. Learning these endgame positions is essential for competitive play and is where checkers becomes genuinely mathematical.

Chinook and the Solution

In 1989, Jonathan Schaeffer and his team at the University of Alberta began building Chinook, a checkers-playing computer program. By 1994, Chinook was competing against Marion Tinsley — the reigning world champion who hadn’t lost a match in 40 years.

Their 1994 match was drawn after 6 games (Tinsley withdrew due to illness and passed away shortly after). But Chinook’s real achievement came in 2007 when Schaeffer’s team announced they had solved checkers — proving mathematically that perfect play by both sides results in a draw.

The computation examined 39 trillion positions directly and used databases of endgame positions containing 3.9 x 10^13 entries. The project ran for 18 years, using dozens of computers. Checkers became the most complex game ever solved — about a million times more complex than Connect Four (the next most complex solved game).

The solution doesn’t mean checkers is uninteresting. Humans can’t play perfectly — we make mistakes. Between imperfect human players, checkers remains a deep, engaging contest. The solution just establishes what happens at the theoretical ceiling of play.

Checkers Culture

Competitive checkers has a rich tradition, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom, and the international draughts-playing countries (Netherlands, Russia, Senegal). The American Checker Federation has hosted national tournaments since 1947.

The game’s accessibility is its greatest cultural strength. You need a board and 24 pieces — simpler equipment than almost any other strategy game. Every kid who grew up playing checkers with a grandparent understands the game’s social role: it’s structured interaction, shared activity, and gentle competition in a format that works across age differences.

Digital checkers remains popular too. Online platforms host millions of games annually. And because the game is solved, computer opponents can be calibrated to any skill level — a teaching tool that chess programs, working in an unsolved game, can’t quite match at the theoretical level.

Checkers won’t give you the status of chess mastery or the narrative drama of backgammon’s dice-driven swings. What it offers is something rarer: a game whose rules take five minutes to learn and whose strategy rewards a lifetime of study, played on equipment that costs almost nothing. That’s a remarkable design achievement for something invented before anyone kept records.

Frequently Asked Questions

Has checkers been solved?

Yes. In 2007, a team led by Jonathan Schaeffer at the University of Alberta proved that checkers (8x8 English draughts), played perfectly by both sides, always results in a draw. The project, called Chinook, examined 500 billion billion (5 x 10^20) board positions over 18 years. Checkers is the most complex game ever solved — meaning its outcome from any position can now be determined with certainty.

What is the difference between checkers and chess?

Both are played on 8x8 boards, but they're fundamentally different games. Checkers pieces all move the same way (diagonally), and the primary action is jumping to capture. Chess has six different piece types with different movement rules and no mandatory captures. Chess has approximately 10^47 possible game positions versus checkers' 5 x 10^20. Chess remains unsolved; checkers was solved in 2007.

What are kings in checkers?

When a checker reaches the opponent's back row, it becomes a 'king' — indicated by stacking a second piece on top. Kings can move and capture both forward and backward, while regular pieces can only move forward. Getting kings is a major strategic goal, as their increased mobility provides significant tactical advantage.

Further Reading

• World Draughts Federation (FMJD)
• American Checker Federation
• Encyclopedia Britannica - Checkers