How To Win At Checkers: 12 Steps (with Pictures) - WikiHow

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How to Win at Checkers Download Article Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: February 24, 2025 Fact Checked

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• Improving Your Chances of Winning
|
• Using Strategies to Capture Checkers
|
• Preparing for Tournament Play
|
• Video
|
• Q&A
|
• Tips
|
• Warnings

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This article was reviewed by Ashton Wu. Ashton Wu is a Board Game expert at Shelfside. After delving into the Yugioh tournament community while growing up, Ashton launched himself into the board gaming community in 2014 and went into reviewing board games as a career full-time in 2019. His YouTube channel Shelfside has over 50K subscribers and over 4 million views, assisted by written reviews on the Shelfside website and BoardGameGeek.com. He also consults with gaming companies to build high-quality gaming products. Ashton is a tournament commentator, board game playthrough director, and host of the Shelfside Podcast, where he talks about board games with his business partner, Daniel. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in addition to the Technology Management Certificate. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,021,034 times.

Ready to start beating your family and friends at checkers? Learn the fundamentals of checkers and you'll have a big advantage over amateur players. If you're ready to take your game to the next level, there are some specific strategies that can help to improve your chances of winning. You may also want to consider getting into tournament play or working with an expert to improve your game.

Steps

Part 1 Part 1 of 3:

Improving Your Chances of Winning

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1. 1 Focus on crowning more pieces than your opponent. In checkers, the person who has more kings also has the advantage. Try to crown as many pieces as possible to increase your chances of winning the game.[1]
   • To put this advice into practice, advance a piece toward an area on your board where your opponent has fewer pieces, or pieces that are more spread out. If you can protect this piece with nearby pieces and sacrifices, then you have a good chance at making a king.
   • See Intermediate Strategies below for how to "redirect the enemy" and sneak through a king.
2. 2 Keep your back row in place until you need to move those checkers. It's impossible for your opponent to crown his or her pieces if your back row is occupied, so this strategy will prevent your opponent from getting the advantage too soon in the game. You will also have more movement options left when you do start moving your back row pieces.[2]
   • Remember that you won't be able to keep your back row intact forever. Once you're low on pieces or you see an opportunity for an advantageous trade, don't hesitate to move out.
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3. 3 Advance pieces in close groups and in tandem. Two pieces "in tandem" are adjacent to each other on a diagonal line. Keeping pieces near enough to form tandem in one move makes it much harder for your opponent to capture them.[3] [4]
   • "Following" a piece you moved earlier before you move it again will leave your front piece less open to capture. Following it with two pieces is even safer, since you can block capture from two directions.
   • See Intermediate Strategies to learn how to form "trapping pairs".
4. 4 Trade checkers when you're ahead. It's obvious that trading one of your checkers for two of your opponent's checkers benefits you, but even trading one for one is useful if you had more checkers to begin with.[5]
   • For example, if you have 5 checkers and your opponent has 4 checkers, then the board is almost equal. But once you trade three pieces each, you have a huge advantage with twice as many pieces as your opponent.
5. 5 Control the center of the board. If you keep a few pieces near the center, you will keep your options open and be able to move rapidly to whichever side of the board needs your attention. Likewise, preventing your opponent from placing pieces in the center will deny him or her this advantage.[6]
   • It takes practice to judge how many pieces you need to commit to the center in a particular game. As a general rule, you should try to build up enough of a position that the opponent is unable to safely advance anywhere except the left and right edges. After that goal is achieved, adding more of your pieces can actually clog up your board and lower your options.
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Part 2 Part 2 of 3:

Using Strategies to Capture Checkers

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1. 1 Sacrifice pieces to gain advantages. The "forced capture" rule requires a player to make a capture if they are able to. Think ahead to what the board will look like if you force your opponent to capture your piece and you might discover it's worth the sacrifice.
   • If you're trying to crown a piece but your opponent is pursuing it, you can sacrifice a less important piece to lure the pursuer away from your soon-to-be king.[7]
   • If you have a diagonal line of pieces, moving the forward one toward the enemy can force a capture that places the enemy piece next to another of yours. Make sure you don't open yourself up to a double capture![8]
2. 2 Try a "Trapping Pairs" strategy. To use the "Trapping Pairs" strategy, you need to wait for a certain setup on the board. Your first checker (piece 1) should be in the leftmost or rightmost column, against the edge of the board. Your second checker (piece 2) should be one row in front of your first checker on the diagonal. Following that same diagonal, there should be an empty space, then one of your opponent's checkers(piece A), then another opponent checker (piece B) one row behind.[9]
   • Move piece 2 toward your opponent's pieces, so that it is in danger of being captured.
   • The forced capture rule requires your opponent's piece A to jump piece 2, but it cannot then jump piece 1 because it is against the edge of the board.
   • After your opponent has captured your piece 2, the you can use your piece 1 to jump piece A.
   • In the basic scenario described, this is an unexciting 1-for-1 trade. However, after setting up your trapping pair, you can often wait to "trigger" it until the opportunity for a double capture arises.
3. 3 Use the "Redirect Your Enemy" strategy. To use "Redirect Your Enemy," you will need to designate 6 pieces on one side of your board as group A and the other 6 on the other side as group B. You will use these designations to determine what pieces you move at different times in the game.[10]
   • Move the pieces in A group almost exclusively at the start of the game, only occasionally moving a B piece when there is no good A move.
   • When you begin trading pieces with your opponent, trade A pieces over B pieces whenever possible.
   • Once a few capture exchanges have happened, your opponent will likely be concentrated on the side of the board with your A pieces. Begin advancing your B pieces in groups and you'll be in a strong position to crown past your opponent's depleted defenses.
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Part 3 Part 3 of 3:

Preparing for Tournament Play

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1. 1 Decide which rules of checkers to follow. Some tournaments are run using basic checkers rules, referred to as Go As You Please, GAYP, or freestyle. Others follow the 3-move rules, which limit players' options at the start of the game to a set of three move sequences. (The 3-move rules greatly reduce the possibility of a draw between skilled players.)
2. 2 Study a checkers strategy guide that matches your rules system and skill level. More recent books will contain up-to-date strategic advances, but this is less important if you're a beginner. Browsing the checkers shelf at a library or bookstore can help you find a book that is helpful and fun to read.
3. 3 Practice and memorize specific opening sequences. For 3-move play, find an encyclopedia of 3-move openers. For GAYP rules, select a preferred opener and practice games with every possible response from your opponent.[11]
   • Memorizing specific board states from the mid-game and endgame can be useful as well, but you're much less likely to encounter a specific midgame in a tournament than one of the standard openers.
4. 4 Play against the best opponents you can find. Playing against more experienced players who are willing to share their knowledge is a great way to improve your game. Whether that means entering tournaments or finding your local amateur expert, the better your opponents are, the more you'll learn.[12]
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Community Q&A

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• Question How do I beat a person if they don't move their back row? Community Answer Just force them to move their back row by forced capture or by mandatory move because there are no other available moves. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 36 Helpful 125
• Question Can my men capture their kings? Community Answer If the question is can the "men" capture a "king," yes! Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 48 Helpful 108
• Question How do I avoid mandatory moves in checkers? Community Answer By thinking ahead and not moving to a position that will create a mandatory move on your next turn. However, you can't avoid mandatory moved entirely, nor should you want to, since they are the only way to capture your opponent's pieces and ultimately win. Thanks! We're glad this was helpful. Thank you for your feedback. If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow Yes No Not Helpful 34 Helpful 85

See more answers Ask a Question 200 characters left Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Submit Advertisement Did this article help you? Say thanks with a small tip. $1 $3 $5 Leave a Tip Support our mission to help everyone in the world learn how to do anything.

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Tips

• Know your opponent. A "mistake" coming from a skilled opponent is more likely to be a trap. Think carefully before capturing an available piece. Thanks Helpful 39 Not Helpful 6

Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

• Try to avoid moving your last row until you need to. This can increase the chances of your opponent not getting a King because they can't jump over your pieces.
• Try and place your pieces around the edge as soon as possible. If they're along the edge, they cannot be captured.

Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published Name Please provide your name and last initial Submit Thanks for submitting a tip for review! Advertisement

Warnings

• Don't advance a single piece alone if you have other pieces to back it up. Early in the game, when you have plenty of pieces, you should always use them to protect each other. Thanks Helpful 74 Not Helpful 22
• Don't play quickly. Especially when they see an opportunity to capture an opposing piece, a new player is eager to rush ahead and take that advantage. When playing against a more experienced player, this often means walking into their trap. Thanks Helpful 66 Not Helpful 25
• Don't play too defensively. The "forced capture" rule will eventually require you to leave your defensive position. Trying to crown your own pieces is more effective than preventing your opponent doing so at your own expense.[13] Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

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References

1. ↑ https://www.bobnewell.net/filez/reinfeld2ndedition.pdf
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0drB0cx8pQ
3. ↑ https://www.bobnewell.net/filez/reinfeld2ndedition.pdf
4. ↑ https://sites.harding.edu/dsteil/440/documents/giveaway%20checkers%20rules.htm
5. ↑ https://www.buffalolib.org/sites/default/files/gaming-unplugged/inst/1%20Backgammon%20and%20Checkers%20Instructions.pdf
6. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Checkers.PDF
7. ↑ https://www.bobnewell.net/filez/reinfeld2ndedition.pdf
8. ↑ https://www.officialgamerules.org/board-games/checkers#google_vignette
9. ↑ https://www.washburn.edu/student-life/recreation-wellness/intramurals/documents/IM-Checkers-Rules.pdf

More References (4)

10. ↑ https://www.cs.unibo.it/cianca/wwwpages/chesssite/lasker.pdf
11. ↑ https://wcdf.net/rules/rules_of_checkers_english.pdf
12. ↑ https://www.fmjd.org/downloads/Course/en/Course%20in%20draughts.pdf
13. ↑ https://www.cs.unibo.it/cianca/wwwpages/chesssite/lasker.pdf

About This Article

Reviewed by: Ashton Wu Board Game Expert This article was reviewed by Ashton Wu. Ashton Wu is a Board Game expert at Shelfside. After delving into the Yugioh tournament community while growing up, Ashton launched himself into the board gaming community in 2014 and went into reviewing board games as a career full-time in 2019. His YouTube channel Shelfside has over 50K subscribers and over 4 million views, assisted by written reviews on the Shelfside website and BoardGameGeek.com. He also consults with gaming companies to build high-quality gaming products. Ashton is a tournament commentator, board game playthrough director, and host of the Shelfside Podcast, where he talks about board games with his business partner, Daniel. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in addition to the Technology Management Certificate. This article has been viewed 1,021,034 times. 139 votes - 88% Co-authors: 24 Updated: February 24, 2025 Views: 1,021,034 Categories: Strategy Board Games Article SummaryX

One strategy that can help you win at checkers is keeping your back row in place for as long as you can. That will make it impossible for your opponent to crown one of their pieces early on in the game. Focus on crowning more pieces than your opponent, which will give you a competitive edge. One way to crown more pieces is to play exclusively on the left or right side of the board so your opponent moves a lot of their pieces to that side. Then, advance your pieces on the other half of the board to your opponent’s side through the opening you’ve created. Another strategy you can try is moving your pieces forward in close groups so they’re harder to capture. When you move one piece, move another piece adjacent to it diagonally on your next turn. Always try to control the center of the board during a game, which will keep your options open and prevent your opponent from gaining the upper hand. Don't forget to keep an eye out for opportunities to double-jump your opponent too, which will help you capture more of their pieces faster. For strategies on how to capture your opponent’s checkers, keep reading! Did this summary help you?YesNo

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