How to win at checkers

Checkers has no dice and no hidden cards. When one player beats another, it is almost never luck: it is because one of them saw a capture coming two moves earlier, or kept their pieces together while the other let them scatter.

Most of what separates a beginner from a decent player comes down to a handful of habits. They work in both versions played here — flying kings and American checkers — with the differences pointed out where they matter.

Compulsory capture is a weapon

The rule that you must capture is the most important rule in the game, and beginners treat it as a nuisance. Good players treat it as a lever.

Because your opponent has no choice about taking a piece you offer, you decide where their piece lands. Give one man away on purpose, and their capturing piece ends up on a square you picked — very often a square from which you now jump two or three of theirs.

This is the shot, or combination, and it is how most games between reasonable players are decided. Before every move, ask two questions:

If I put a piece here, what is my opponent forced to do?
After they do it, what can I capture?

Ask the same questions from your opponent's side before every move they could make. If a piece of yours can be offered to you, your opponent may be setting the trap.

Keep your pieces together

A lone man is easy to attack and, worse, easy to use against you. Men that stand diagonally next to each other protect one another: an enemy piece cannot jump a man if the square behind it is occupied.

Advance in pairs and triangles, not in single file.
Avoid holes in your formation. An empty square in the middle of your pieces is exactly where an opponent's capture will land.
Do not strand a man far ahead of the rest unless it is about to be crowned.

Hold the centre

The four central squares are the most valuable on the board. A man in the centre can go either way, supports more of its neighbours, and blocks more of the opponent's routes. Pieces on the edge have only one diagonal, and a man on the side of the board can do half as much as one in the middle.

Early in the game, aim your moves towards the centre and try to keep your opponent out of it.

Guard your back row

Your back row is the row your opponent has to reach to get a king. Every man you keep there is a square they cannot crown on.

Do not rush those men forward. In American checkers especially, a solid back row — the two men on the squares nearest your left and right corners are the classic pair — can keep the other side from ever getting a king.

Count before you trade

Swapping one piece for one piece is not neutral. When you are ahead, trade; when you are behind, avoid trades. Every even exchange makes your advantage bigger in proportion: eight against seven is close, three against two is usually decisive.

Kings: the flying-kings difference

In flying-kings draughts, a king is worth a great deal more than a man — often three or more. A flying king in open space can attack from across the board and cannot easily be trapped. That means:

Getting the first king is often decisive. Plan your advance towards the far row early.
Close the long diagonal. The great diagonal running from corner to corner is a flying king's highway. Keep a piece on it, or your opponent's first king will own it.
Men capture backwards. A man that has slipped past yours is not safe from behind — and neither are yours. Check every direction before you move.

In American checkers, a king moves one square at a time. It is strong but slow, and the game rewards patience and position more than a race to crown.

Endgames

When only a few pieces are left, a few rules of thumb carry most of the weight:

A king is best in the centre, where it controls the most squares.
Use the opposition. In American checkers, when kings and men face off, whoever has to move into the other's reach often loses. Counting who has the spare tempo decides these positions.
Blocked is lost. A player with no legal move loses, so herding the last enemy men against the edge can win even without capturing them.
Know when it is a draw. One king against one king cannot be won, and the table will call it after enough quiet moves. Do not play for a win that is not there — or throw away a draw that is.

Practise against the computer

The fastest way to get better is to play a lot and look at the moment each game turned. Play the computer on Easy until you win comfortably, then move up. If you are not sure of a rule, the full checkers rules are one page.