International draughts
International draughts (also called Polish draughts or international checkers) is a board game, one of the variants of draughts. It is played on a 10×10 board with alternatingly dark and light squares, of which only the 50 dark ones are used. There are two players on opposite sides, with 20 pieces each, light for one player and dark for the other. In conventional diagrams the board is displayed with the light pieces at the bottom and dark at the top and in this orientation the lower-left corner square must be dark.
The World Draughts Federation maintains a ranking. As of October 2009[update] the men's list is headed by Ton Sijbrands from the Netherlands, followed by Alexander Georgiev from Russia and Alexander Schwarzman from Russia, while at the women's site Darya Tkachenko from the Ukraine is in the lead, closely followed by Tatjana Chub from the Netherlands and Zoja Golubeva from Latvia.
Rules
The general rule is that all moves and captures are made diagonally. All references to squares refer to the dark squares only. The main differences with English draughts are the size of the board (10×10) and the rule that pieces can also capture backward, not only forward.
Starting position
- The game is played on a board with 10×10 squares, alternatingly dark and light. The left down square field should be dark.
- Each player has 20 pieces. At the starting position (see picture) the pieces are placed on the first 4 rows closest to the players. This leaves two rows in the middle empty.
Moves and captures
- The player with the light pieces makes the first move. The two players make moves alternately.
- Ordinary pieces move forward one square diagonally to a field that is not occupied by another piece.
- Opposing pieces can and must be captured by jumping over the opposing piece, two squares. If one has the possibility to capture a piece then this must be done even if it is disadvantageous.
- If there is one unoccupied square before or behind opposing pieces then jumps multiple times over opposing pieces in a single turn forward or backward can and must be made, making angles of 90 degrees. It is compulsory to jump over as many pieces as possible. One must play with the piece that can make the maximum captures.
- After the piece has jumped over the opponents piece or pieces, the jumped over pieces are taken from the board. The men are not removed during the jump, only after the whole move.
Crowning
- A piece is crowned if it stops on the far edge of the board at the end of its turn (that is, not if it reaches the edge but must then jump another piece backward). Another piece is placed on top of it to mark it. Crowned pieces, sometimes called kings, can move freely multiple steps in any direction and may jump over and hence capture an opponent piece some distance away and choose where to stop afterwards, but must still capture the maximum number of pieces possible.
Winning and draws
- A player with no valid move remaining loses. This is the case if the player either has no pieces left or if a player's pieces are obstructed from making a legal move by the pieces of the opponent.
- A game is a draw if neither opponent has the possibility to win the game.
- The game is considered a draw when the same position repeats itself for the third time (not necessarily consecutive), with the same player having the move.
- A one king against one king endgame is automatically declared a draw, as is any other position proven to be a draw.
These are extra rules accommodated in some tournaments and may vary:
- If, during 25 moves, there were only king movements, without piece movements or jumps, the game is considered a draw.
- If there are only three kings, two kings and a piece, or a king and two pieces against a king, the game will be considered a draw after the two players have each played 16 turns. [1]
Notation
Each of the fifty dark squares has a number (1 through 50). [2] Number 46 is at the left corner seen from the player with the light pieces. Number 5 is at the left corner seen from the player with the dark pieces.
Computers
Computer draughts programs have been improving every year. Programmers wrote the first draughts programs in the mid 1970s.[1] The first computer draughts tournament was in 1987.[2] In 1993, computer draughts program Truus ranked about 40th in the word.[3] In 2003 computer Draughts program Buggy beat world number 8 Samb.[4] In 2005, the 10-time world champion and 2005 World champion, Alexei Chizhov, commented about computers. Chizhov said he could not beat the computer, but he also would not lose to the computer.[5] Since 2005, the top computers gained over 200 points. There has not been a human versus computer draughts tournament after 2005. In 2010, the 9 piece endgame database was built.[6]
See also
References