Simple Guide to Playing Checkers and Revealing Winning Strategies

In the most popular traditional intellectual game warehouse today, besides chess, go, and chess, we cannot forget Chinese checkers. This is a game with a large number of fans and for all age groups. If you don’t know how to play Chinese checkers, let’s explore through the article below by FPT Shop!

What is Chinese checkers? The origin of Chinese checkers

Chinese checkers is called Checkers in English and also known as Draughts. This is a strategic game on a confrontational board for two players. Players will take turns moving the same type of pieces diagonally and capture the opponent’s pieces by jumping over them. Chinese checkers developed from Alquerque chess. The name Draughts of this type of checkers comes from the verb meaning to move.

This type of checkers originated and developed from the West and then began to appear in the 15th – 18th centuries and continued to be widely popularized worldwide.

What does the Chinese checkers set include?

Here are the essential things when playing Chinese checkers. This is to bring you a fun and interesting Chinese checkers experience.

A game board

Chinese checkers is a popular game for two players. It is usually played on a square board with alternating white and colored squares. There are two main versions of Chinese checkers, international Chinese checkers, played on a 10×10 board, and English Chinese checkers (American checkers), played on an 8×8 board. Besides, there are many other versions with extremely diverse board sizes, even up to a 12×12 board.

Unlike the structure of chess, Chinese checkers does not limit the size. That means players can find many different types of Chinese checkers boards. However, whether you play on an 8×8, 10×10, or 12×12 board, the combination of colored squares and the way of playing Chinese checkers still creates a unique and interesting experience for you. And it can be seen that the Chinese checkers board is quite similar to the chessboard, so many players have taken advantage of the chessboard to play Chinese checkers.

Checkers pieces in Chinese checkers

Each type of Chinese checkers board will come with a different number of checkers pieces. For example, on an 8×8 Chinese checkers board (including 8 rows and 8 columns) there are a total of 24 pieces, divided equally into two colors, with each color having 12 pieces.

How to set up the Chinese checkers board

Setting up the Chinese checkers board is also an art of players of this type of checkers. You should place the Chinese checkers board in the middle of the two players and ensure that the last square on the right of each row near them is a white or brighter color square.

And each player will arrange their 12 pieces in the 12 dark-colored squares in the top 3 rows closest to them. Each row on the board must contain a total of 4 pieces, and the two middle rows must be empty.

How to play Chinese checkers?

Start the game

Just like other turn-based games, the player who moves first is determined by tossing a coin or playing rock-paper-scissors. The winner will have the option to choose whether to play with black or white pieces.

In this type of checkers, the player using black pieces will go first (unlike in chess). The board will be set up in the correct way and the pieces will be placed as required. To speed up the game, players should agree on the maximum time allowed for each turn. International rules stipulate that each player has a limited time of 5 minutes per turn. The two players will take turns moving and using their intelligence to come up with tactics and capture the opponent’s pieces until the game ends.

Moving the pieces

If a player’s piece is adjacent to an opponent’s piece diagonally, they have the right to move two squares in the direction of the opponent’s piece and leapfrog over the opponent’s piece to capture it. The captured piece will be removed from the playing board.

A useful note when you jump and capture a piece is that if you want to jump to a square, make sure that square is empty. According to the rules, if a player has the opportunity to jump and capture an opponent’s piece, they must jump and capture it. If there are multiple choices of squares to jump to, players can choose any one of them. And if jumping to a new position creates an opportunity to continue jumping and capturing pieces, players must continue until there is no more chance to capture any more pieces.

Crowning pieces

When one of your pieces reaches the opponent’s end of the board, that piece will be promoted to king status. To mark the promotion, players can place any decoration on the piece or place an additional piece on it to distinguish it from regular pieces.

The king piece can move up and down diagonally. From there, they can capture the opponent’s pieces more easily. These king pieces can only move one square diagonally each time. However, they have the special ability to continuously move forward or backward in the same turn. This increases their ability to capture the opponent’s pieces.

In some other versions of Chinese checkers, the king pieces have a crown-shaped design at the back. That’s why players just need to flip the pieces to show the promotion. However, in reality, there is no limit to the number of kings.

End of the Chinese checkers game

The game will continue until one of the two players has no more pieces on the board. The player who keeps the pieces on the board will be the winner of the game.

Another way to win is when your opponent cannot move any more pieces because they are completely blocked, this is also considered a victory. Also, the winner must have a piece that has been promoted to king status.

Tips for winning in Chinese checkers

In addition to mastering the rules of Chinese checkers, you also need to use small tips to win the game. Here are some small tips to help you win in this intellectual game.

Attack instead of defense

To win this game, the strategy is to build a proactive and flexible attack. You need to focus on capturing your opponent’s pieces to prevent them from attacking. And the crucial thing is to prevent the opponent from advancing deep into your territory.

Also, keep your last row safe. This position is important because it is a solid wall that protects your king. If you keep the last row, your opponent will not be able to promote their pieces to kings, which is an important strategy to prevent the opponent’s pieces from being promoted to kings.

Sacrifice pieces

There are times when you need to consider sacrificing some pieces. Sacrifice is not only a tactic but also a way for your pieces to advance further, attack stronger, and especially have more king pieces. Moreover, promoted king pieces are much more valuable and need to be protected the best.

Move teammate pieces

You want to control the game on the chessboard by flexibly combining the functions of each piece. By using this way of playing Chinese checkers, you can attack your opponent from multiple sides as well as protect your own pieces. If you move a single piece and separate it from your teammates, the risk of being eliminated by the opponent is extremely high.

The center area of the chessboard is usually the best place for you to focus on and build a teammate defense system. However, you should not move all your pieces to the center because it will be very difficult to move and be flexible in the game.

Focus on promoting kings

An extremely important strategy is to focus on promoting many pieces to kings. King pieces have the ability to move freely and create significant strength. By doing this, the player will gain an advantage and make attacks and captures of the opponent’s piece easier.

Keep the last row

Preventing the opponent from reaching the last row is an intelligent strategy. Because if the opponent has many kings, it will make the Chinese checkers game more difficult and reduce your winning rate. Therefore, always try to keep the last row with enough pieces as a solid wall!

Block the opponent

Blocking the opponent’s attack not only protects your pieces but also increases your chances of winning. When the opponent is blocked, their pieces cannot move elsewhere, helping you control the situation and make progress in the match.

Conclusion

Through this article, you have been instructed on how to play Chinese checkers simply. It can be seen that this is an interesting game that requires thinking. Hope you will win in the process of playing Chinese checkers.

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