Checkers Tips & Tricks

Checkers can be a little more involved that you would expect. If you've learned Checkers, but you continue to lose, read up on a few Checkers tips and tricks to improve your game. Reading or listening to even a small amount of checkers advice should improve your game quickly.

Remember, checkers is a game that's been around in one form or another for almost five thousand years. That means there are whole centuries of Checkers experience to draw on, so there are all kinds of tips to improving at Checkers. Known in many parts of the world as draughts, checkers as it has come to be known in America is played with twelve pieces per side on an 8x8 sized board.

Checkers is often one of the first strategy board games taught to children, since the rules are easy to understand and play often progresses in a rapid fashion. The simplicity of the game's rules should not be misunderstood, however. There are a number of checkers tips that can be implemented when playing the game that can help a player achieve victory against his or her opponent.

Tips for Playing Checkers - Order of Play

Our first tips for playing checkers begin with order of play. Often, the order in which turns are taken can help develop a winning strategy.

Checkers Tips when Playing First

The player playing the black pieces moves first, and the player moving the black chips should always try to take advantage of the first-move opportunity to establish a dominant position. While there is a definite advantage in moving first, the black player must take care not to open themselves up to a vulnerable position.

"Establishing a dominant position" in Checkers generally equates with taking control of the center of the board. Once you control the middle of the game board, you can move quickly to counter any moves you opponent makes against you from right or left of your checker pieces. This is akin to the battlefield strategy of having "interior lines of communication", letting you get to a certain location on the battlefield (or checkerboard) quicker than your opponent.

Checkers Tips when Playing Second

Checkers Tips The player moving the white or red pieces moves second. While this puts the player at a disadvantage, especially early in the game, for the expert player, the chance to react to each move of the opponent can be advantageous. Often, the second player simply makes defensive moves, waiting for the first player to commit an error. Once a mistake has been made, the second player can go on the offensive and take control for the rest of the game.

Controlling the center of the checkerboard is harder than it sounds. Like in warfare, having "defense in depth" or redundancy is important. If your opponent seeks to control the center of the checkerboard with one checker, you can draw the opponent offside by tempting him or her with one of your pieces. Have a second piece ready to move forward into the center of the board, especially if you can do so by jumping the piece your opponent moved from a central position to eliminate your piece.

Using Compulsive Jumps and Sacrifices

One of the rules that is most often overlooked, especially by new players to the game, is the rule that if a player can jump an opponent's piece, they are required to do so. Many novice checkers players see this as a rule that prevents a superior player from taking advantage of a less experienced player, but with practice, this rule can be used to force an opponent into a bad position. This rule becomes key, when you reach the stage of a checkers game where both sides have crowned pieces.

By sacrificing a piece to an opponent, you can often force a player's king piece into a position where it can be captured. Also, experts at checkers can often use the forced capture rule to trap their opponents into losing four or more pieces, for the cost of only one of their own pieces.

Defensive Checkers

Most checkers experts agree that the best way to achieve victory is to keep the pieces on your back row in their place for as long as possible. The spaces on the back row are how your opponent turns regular pieces into kings, so blocking them for as long as possible is a sound defensive strategy.

Pieces along the outside edges of the playing board can't be jumped and captured, either, so a piece occupying one of these spots is safe from capture. If you find yourself in a position where you must move one of these pieces, try to move pieces from the corners, so your opponent has fewer routes with which to make their way to the spot.

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