Checkers Strategy: How to Win More Games

Checkers looks simple, and in a way it is: every piece moves the same way and nothing is hidden. That is exactly what makes it a game of skill. The player who looks one move further ahead usually wins. You don't need to memorize openings to play well. A handful of habits will win you far more games against family, friends and our computer player. If you are new to the game, read the checkers rules first.

1. Never Leave a Piece Hanging

Most games between everyday players are decided by pieces given away for nothing. Before every move, ask two questions:

• Can my piece be jumped where it lands? Look at the squares diagonally next to its new square. If an opponent's piece sits on one side and the square on the other side is empty, it can be jumped.
• Does the square I leave open a jump? Moving a piece can uncover a neighbor that was protected by it. This second question is the one people forget.

Our game's Hint button follows the same thinking. It never suggests a move that throws a piece away unless it has a good reason, and it tells you that reason.

2. Guard Your Back Row

Your opponent can only crown a king by reaching your back row. As long as men stand on your back row, those squares are closed. Many good players keep two back-row men at home for most of the game, with one empty back-row square between them. That pair, often called a "bridge", covers the back row so well that an enemy man can rarely slip through.

You will have to move back-row men eventually, but move them late, and one at a time. A back row emptied early is an open door for enemy kings.

3. Move in Pairs and Keep Your Pieces Together

A piece can't be jumped from the front if the square behind it is occupied. So a man with a friend directly behind it on the same diagonal is safe from that direction. Advance in small groups, filling in behind the front pieces, rather than sending a single man forward on its own. Lone pieces in the open are targets; a tight formation is very hard to break.

4. Take the Center

Pieces in the middle of the board can move either way and support each other. Pieces on the side edges are safe from being jumped, but they only have one way to go and do little. In the opening, try to get men onto the center squares and keep them supported. The player who controls the center usually has more choices later, and the other player is the one who runs out of safe moves.

5. Use Forced Jumps to Set Traps

Because jumps are required, you can make your opponent move where you want. Put a piece where it can be jumped, and your opponent has to take it. If the jumping piece then lands where you can jump it, or better still where you can jump two pieces in a row, you come out ahead. This is called a shot.

A simple shot looks like this: you give up one man, the forced jump pulls an enemy man out of position, and your reply is a double jump. You lose one piece and win two. When our computer does this, its Why? button says so: "I gave up a man on purpose".

The same idea works against you, of course. When your opponent suddenly leaves a piece free to be taken, stop and look where your jumping piece will land before you take it. Sometimes you have no choice, but you may have a choice of which jump to make.

6. Trade When You Are Ahead, Avoid Trades When Behind

A one-piece lead matters much more with few pieces on the board than with many. Eleven against twelve is nearly even; two against three is often a win. So when you are ahead, offer even trades: one of yours for one of theirs, again and again. When you are behind, do the opposite: keep pieces on the board, keep the position crowded and look for a chance to catch up or to draw.

7. Think About Tempo

In crowded positions there is often a fight over who runs out of safe moves first. If every move you have left gives something away, you are in trouble even with equal pieces. Count your "spare" moves, the ones that change nothing important, such as moving a back piece up behind a safe front piece. Keep a few in hand for the middle game, so your opponent is the one who has to make the weakening move.

8. Getting a King, and Using It

A king is worth a lot, but only if it does something. Once you have one:

• Bring it back into play. A king sitting on the back row helps nobody. Use it to attack enemy men from behind, where their own pieces can't protect them.
• Pin down enemy men. Men can't move backward, so a king behind them can make every move they have a bad one.
• Escort your other men. A king next to your advancing men makes them hard to stop, and soon you have a second king.

9. Winning the Endgame

With only kings left, the stronger side has to work. A few points help:

• Two kings against one is a win, but the lone king will run to a double corner, the corner with two dark squares next to each other, where it is hardest to catch. Use both kings together to squeeze it out.
• Avoid repeating moves. The same position three times is a draw, and so is a long run of moves without a jump or a man moving. If you are ahead, keep making progress.
• If you are behind, head for a double corner and shuffle between its two squares. A draw is a fine result from a lost position.

10. Practice With the Computer

Our computer player is a good practice partner because it explains itself. Start on Easy, which looks only a couple of moves ahead and sometimes makes a careless move. When you win most games, move up to Normal, then Hard, which looks much further ahead. Use Undo to try a different idea when a move goes wrong, and Replay This Game to play the same opponent again.

Enjoy games where the better plan wins? You might also like to look through our board games and the checkers variations your family may have played.