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Checkers: International
Also known as International Draughts, this version of checkers (KN) lets your single checkers jump forward and backward; the King can jump any distance along a diagonal. ItsYourTurn.com also provides variations: Italian Checkers (KT), Polish Checkers (KL), and Russian Checkers (KR).


  • read: Setup and Object
  • read: Game Pieces
  • read: Checker Movement
  • read: King Movement
  • read: Capturing or Jumping
  • read: Jumping with a Checker
  • read: Jumping with a King
  • read: Italian Checkers (KT)
  • read: Polish Checkers (KL)
  • read: Russian Checkers (KR)
  • read: Starting a Game of International Checkers on ItsYourTurn.com
  • read: Moving Checkers on the ItsYourTurn.com Board
  • read: How to Offer a Draw
  • read: International Checkers Links
  • read: House rule: EXACT board position occuring 3 times in the game is a draw



Setup and Object

International checkers is played on a 10 by 10 square board. Only the dark squares are used in play. Each player begins the game with 20 pieces, or checkers, placed on the 4 rows closest to him or her.

The object of international checkers is to prevent your opponent from being able to move. You can do this by capturing all of your opponent's pieces, or by blocking your opponent so that none of his or her pieces on the board can be moved.

A draw occurs if neither player can prevent the other from making a move.
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Game Pieces There are two kinds of pieces in international checkers. When the game starts, you have only regular checkers which look like this:


If a checker moves all the way to your opponent's end of the board and remains there at the end of the turn, then it becomes a King:


The regular checkers and the King have different ways of moving and jumping which are described below.
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Checker Movement If no jump is available, a regular checker can only move one space diagonally forward to an unoccupied square.


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King Movement If no jump is available, the King can move any distance, forward or backward, along an unobstructed diagonal. It must land in an unoccupied square. In this picture, the red King can move to any square with a yellow dot.


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Capturing or Jumping A piece can capture opposing pieces by jumping over them. After completing a jump, a piece might have another jump available. It must make that jump too, and continue to jump until there are no more jumps available.

If a jump is available at the start of your turn, you must take it. If more than one of your pieces has a jump available at the start of a turn, then you must jump with the piece that will be able to make the most jumps in that turn.

All pieces that are jumped over (captured) are not removed from the board until the turn is over. Also, you can not jump over the same piece more than once in a turn.

A checker does not become a King if, while making multiple jumps, it lands momentarily on the opponent's end of the board, but ends the turn in the middle of the board. To become a King, a checker must be on the opponent's end of the board when the turn is over.

In international checkers, you can never jump over your own pieces.

Checkers and Kings jump differently, as described below.
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Jumping with a Checker A regular checker can capture an opponent's checker or King by jumping over it. A checker can jump on a forward or backward diagonal. The opponent's piece must be on an adjacent diagonal square, and your checker must land in the empty square just beyond the opponent's piece.

Here is a red checker jumping forward:


Here is a red checker jumping backward:


This red checker is making multiple jumps:


A checker does not become a King if, while making multiple jumps, it lands momentarily on the opponent's end of the board and then jumps back to the middle of the board. To become a King, a checker must be on the opponent's end of the board when the turn is over.
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Jumping with a King The King can capture an opponent's checker or King by jumping over it. The King can jump any distance along a diagonal as long as the following conditions are met:

  • The piece that will be captured must be on the same diagonal as the King.
  • The King can not jump over a piece of its own color.
  • The King can only jump over one piece at a time.
  • There must be at least one empty square just beyond the piece that will be captured.

The King does not have to land in the first empty space beyond the piece it has jumped over. The King can choose what space it will land in, unless multiple jumps are available. In that case, the King must land in a space from which it can make the next jump.

Here is an example of a King making a jump:


Multiple jumps with the King can be complicated. When the King makes its first jump in a turn, it must land on a square that will allow it to make another jump, if another jump is possible. After landing, the King can turn and jump on a different diagonal, or it can jump on the same diagonal. The King must make its multiple jumps in a way that gives it the most jumps.

The next picture shows a red King making multiple jumps.


The red King could not first jump to 4f and then to 6d and 9g because that would not give the most jumps. For the same reason, it could also not jump first to 4f and then to 1i.

Remember, pieces that are jumped over are not removed from the board until after the turn is completed; and, no piece can be jumped twice. So a move like jumping to 4f, then 1i, then 8b would not be possible.



The red King in the next picture can not jump the white pieces.


  • The white piece at 5i can not be jumped because this jump is blocked by the red piece at 7g.
  • The white pieces at 6d and 5c can not be jumped because the King can only jump one piece at a time, and there must be at least one empty square just beyond the piece it jumps over.
  • It can not jump the white piece at 10d because there is no place beyond it to land. The King can not 'bounce off the edge in mid-air.'

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Italian Checkers (KT) Italian Checkers is like International Checkers with the following differences:

  • The board is 8 by 8 instead of 10 by 10 squares. Each player starts the game with 12 pieces placed on the darker squares closest to him or her.
  • Checkers (pieces that are not Kings) can only jump forward. They can not jump backward.
  • Checkers can not jump Kings.
  • When moving and not jumping, Kings can only move one square at a time in any direction to an empty space along a diagonal. They can not move unlimited distances along a diagonal, as in International Checkers.
  • When jumping, Kings can only jump adjacent pieces. They can not jump any distance as in International Checkers.
  • When jumping, Kings must land in the next square beyond the piece they jump over. If there is no empty square immediately beyond the piece to be jumped, then that jump is not possible.

In other words, Italian Checkers is just like American Checkers except that in Italian Checkers, the checkers can not jump the Kings; and White has the first move.
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Polish Checkers (KL) Polish Checkers is just like International Checkers, but with the following difference:

  • When making a series of jumps in a single turn, each piece that is jumped over is removed as soon as it is jumped during the turn. You do not wait until the end of the turn to remove all the pieces that have been jumped over.

This sometimes allows a piece to make more jumps in a turn than it would in standard International Checkers.
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Russian Checkers (KR) Russian Checkers is just like International Checkers, but with the following differences:

  • The board is 8 by 8 instead of 10 by 10 squares. Each player starts the game with 12 pieces placed on the darker squares closest to him or her.
  • When a checker lands on the back row after a jump and becomes a King, if there is a jump available to it as a King, it must continue jumping as a King in the same turn. If a checker reaches the back row on a regular move (not a jump) and becomes a King, it may not make any jumps in that turn.
  • If more than one of your pieces has a jump available at the start of a turn, you do not have to jump with the piece that has the most jumps. Instead, you can choose which piece will take its jumps. Once you start jumping with a piece, it must finish all of its jumps.


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Starting a Game of International Checkers on ItsYourTurn.com Detailed instructions on starting a game can be found in a special short tutorial with cartoons. Here is a brief explanation.

Look in the menu column on the left side of the screen. Near the top under 'Play' you will see 'Start Game.' Click 'Start Game' and you will see a page where you choose what game you want to play. If you choose checkers, a game board will appear. In most versions of International Checkers, you will have the first move as White. You have the option of making your first move as soon as you post the game to the waiting room, before an opponent has joined your game. To make this first move, click on a piece; then click on a place to move it to; then click 'Submit' beneath the game board.

The game will be placed in the Waiting Room where it waits for an opponent. When an opponent picks up the game, the game will reappear on your game status page in the list where it's your turn to move.
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Moving Checkers on the ItsYourTurn.com Board After a game of checkers is created (see How to Start a Game or How to Join a Game on our help menu) you may go to it any time by clicking your opponent’s name as it appears on your game status page.

If it is your turn, you will see blue outlines around the checkers that your opponent moved in his last turn.

To begin your turn, click a checker that you want to move. Remember, if a jump is available, you must take it. After you click a checker that you want to move, a new page will appear showing that checker with a red outline. Now, click the space to move that checker to. A new page will load showing the checker moved.

If you have made a jump and another jump is available with that same checker, you do not need to click the same checker again. Just click the next space that it will jump to.

When you are through, several Submit buttons will appear beneath the board. You must click a submit button to finish your move.

If you do not see the submit buttons, then you may not have taken all the jumps that are available. Check the board again and make sure you have made all your jumps.
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How to Offer a Draw Click Offer Draw at the bottom of the page displaying your game board. Your opponent will be sent a message asking whether she would like to accept or decline a draw. It does not have to be your turn to offer a draw.

Offering a draw does not count as making a move in the game. If you offer a draw in a tournament game, you might want to make an actual move in the game as well, to be sure you do not time out. If your opponent makes a move without responding to the draw offer, the draw offer will be erased from her message inbox.
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International Checkers Links Triplejump.Net is a wonderful checkers resource with news, rules for many different checkers games, tournament information, reviews of checkers programs, links, and a live Q&A system that lets you send your checkers question instantly to a volunteer expert.

Triplejump's rules for different International Checkers variations are here. Remember, if you have a jump, you must take it!
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House rule: EXACT board position occuring 3 times in the game is a draw If the same exact positioning of pieces on the ENTIRE board occurs three times in a game, the game is automatically a draw. This is an official rule of chess, but we are expanding it as a house rule in all games to stop games when they are no longer progressing.

For this rule to take effect, the ENTIRE BOARD (your pieces and the opponent's pieces) must be in the EXACT same position on 3 different moves.

When this happens, eventually the computer will automatically declare this game a draw. However, if you'd like to declare a draw manually, click 'Offer Draw' among the options beneath the game board. If your opponent refuses a draw in this situation, you may have to wait for the software to detect this situation.

If you'd like the game to be declared a draw sooner, please pull up the game on your screen and click on the 'Email Websupport about this game' at the bottom of the page. If a 3-move repetition has occurred, then we will declare the game a draw.
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