| International checkers is the checker variant which is played on international tournaments.
It is also called International Draughts, Polish Draughts or French Draughts.
International Checkers is played on the dark squares only of a checkerboard of 100
alternating dark and light squares, (ten rows, ten files) by two opponents having 20 checker, one opponent white ones and the other black ones.
The board is positioned squarely between the players and turned so that a dark square is at each player's near left side. Each player places
his checkers on the dark squares of the four rows nearest him. The player with the white pieces makes the first move of the game,
and the players take turns thereafter, making one move at a time.
The object of the game is to prevent the opponent from being able to move when it is his turn to do so.
This may come about by either being eliminated completely or being blocked completely. If neither player can accomplish this, the game is a draw.
Repetetion of moves is also a draw.
A checker moves forward only, one square at a time in a diagonal direction, to an unoccupied square. A checker captures by jumping over an opposing
piece on a diagonally adjacent square to the square immediately beyond, but may do so only if this square is unoccupied.
Checker may jump forward or backward, and may continue jumping as long as they encounter opposing pieces with unoccupied squares immediately
beyond them. Checker may never jump over checkers of the same color.
A checker which reaches the far side of the board becomes a king. However, if it reaches the far side by means of a jump, and is able to jump
backward away from the far side over another man or king, it must do so, and does not become a king. A checker reaching the far side by
jumping becomes a king only if its jump, or series of jumps, terminates there.
A king moves forward or backward any number of squares on a diagonal line to an unoccupied square. A king captures from any distance along a
diagonal line by jumping, forward or backward, over an opposing piece with at least one unoccupied square immediately beyond it.
The capturing king then lands on any one of these unoccupied squares and continues jumping, if possible, either on the same line, or by making
a right angle turn onto another diagonal line. A king may never jump over pieces of the same color.
Capture takes precedence over a non-capturing move. It must do so, taking care beforehand to establish
the route that brings the maximum number of captured pieces. A King counts as one piece.
If there's more than one way to meet this criterion, the player is free to choose.
Captured pieces are not removed from the board until all jumps made on the move are completed, and the hand is removed from the capturing
piece. In the course of a multiple capture a piece may visit the same square more
than once, but it may not capture the same piece more than once. In rare instances this rule can have the effect of reducing the number of
captures possible on a move.
Whenever a situation arises in which one player has three kings and the other one king, no other checkers remaining on
the board, a count is begun of the moves made by the stronger side. If the lone king is not captured by the end of the fifteenth move by the
stronger side, the game is a draw. This last rule is not implemented here because it is currently not implementable with the repetition rule together
in Zillions. |
