Russian Checkers

How to play Russian Checkers

Russian Checkers, or shashki, is the draughts game played across Russia and much of Eastern Europe. It uses the same 8×8 board and 12 pieces each as ordinary Checkers, but men can capture backwards and kings can fly across the board, so games are faster and full of long combinations. Gold plays the part of White and moves first. Against the computer, choose You play: Gold (white) or Black; your pieces always start at the bottom of the screen.

1. Move diagonally forward one square at a time onto an empty dark square.
2. Capture forwards or backwards. If an opponent’s piece is diagonally next to yours with an empty square behind it, jump over it to remove it. Men can capture in all four diagonal directions, even though they only move forwards.
3. Captures are compulsory. If you can capture, you must. You may choose any capture, not only the one that takes the most pieces, but once you start you keep jumping with the same piece until no more captures are possible.
4. Kings fly. A man that reaches the far row becomes a king. A king moves any number of empty squares along a diagonal, and captures a piece at any distance, landing on any empty square beyond it.
5. Crowned mid-capture. If a man reaches the far row during a capture and can capture again, it carries on straight away as a king.
6. Win by capturing all of your opponent’s pieces, or by leaving them with no legal move.

To move, tap one of your pieces and then tap where you want it to go. For a capture of several pieces, tap each landing square in turn. Legal squares are highlighted, so you can’t make an illegal move by accident.

How it differs from Checkers

• Men capture backwards. A piece that has advanced is never safe just because the enemy is behind it.
• Flying kings. One king can cover a whole diagonal, so a single king is worth about three men.
• Turkish strike. Captured pieces are only taken off when the whole move ends. You can’t jump the same piece twice, and pieces you’ve already jumped can block your path.
• A king must keep capturing. If a king can land on several squares after a jump and one of them allows another capture, it must land there.

Quick tips to beat the computer

• Race for the first king. A flying king is so strong that crowning first often decides the game.
• Watch the long diagonal. The diagonal from a1 to h8, the “main road”, is the most important line on the board. A king on it is very hard to trap.
• Keep pieces in pairs. Because men capture backwards, a lone piece can be attacked from any side. Pieces side by side and backed up are much harder to break.
• Count every forced reply. Captures are compulsory, so a sacrifice can drag the computer’s pieces into a long multi-capture for you.

Russian Checkers FAQ