Checkerboard showing the layout described
Two Move Restriction.It has lately become the custom in important tournaments to write an opening and second move, such as 10-14, 22-17 on a slip of paper; 10-14, 24-19 on another, and so on for all possible openings. These are placed in a hat and when the players face each other, a slip is drawn. If it is 11-15, 22-18, the game must be opened with those moves. When these players start the second game, the one who was second player on the first game begins with 11-15, and his opponent must play 22-18. The same opening is never again used by the same pair, the object being to diversify the play and drive contestants out of their favourite ruts.
The Playersare designated by the colour of the men with which they play, White or Black, and Black always has the firstmove. In a series of games each player in turn takes the black men and the move. It is usual to draw for the first game, one player concealing in each hand a man of different colour, and offering the choice of hands to his adversary. Whichever colour the chosen hand contains the chooser must take for the first game.
The Moves.The men never leave the colour of the squares on which they are originally set up, so that they always move diagonally. At the beginning of the game the men move only one square at a time, and always forward, and can be placed only on squares which are unoccupied. If an adverse piece stands upon a square to which a man might be moved, and there is a vacant square beyond, the man must jump over the adverse piece to the unoccupied square, at the same time removing from the board the piece so jumped over. In the position shown in Diagram No. 1, for instance, it being White’s turn to move, he must jump over the black man, removing it from the board. Black will then have a choice of two jumps, over one man or over two, and will of course select the jump toward the right of the board first, and then over the second man, removing both from the board. A man may jump over and capture several men at one move, provided there are vacant squares between them, and beyond the last man.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 1.
No. 1.
Huffing.If a player who can capture a piece neglects to do so, his adversary has the choice of three things:—To compel the player to take back his move and capture the piece; to huff (remove from the board,) the man that should have captured the piece; or to let the move stand, and go on with his own move. A huff does not constitute a move; the piece is simply removed from the board as a penalty, but the penalty must be enforced before the player exacting it makes his own move.
Kings.When a man arrives at any of the four squares on the edge of the board farthest from the side on which he started, he becomes a King, and iscrownedby putting another man of the same colour on the top of him. In diagrams, kings are distinguished by putting a ring round the single man. ⦾ ⦿. Kings can move either backward or forward, but only one square at a time. If a man arrives at the king-row by capturing an adverse piece, that ends the move, and the newly made king cannot move again, even to capture another piece, until his adversary has moved. [See notes to Diagram No. 7.]
The Object of the Gameis to confine your adversary’s pieces so that he cannot move any of them; or to capture all of them, so that he has none to move. You may succeed in confining the whole twelve of your adversary’s men, without capturing any of them, as in Diagram No. 2; or such as are left on the board after a certain number have been captured, as in Diagram No. 3.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 2. White to Move.
No. 2. White to Move.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 3. White to Move.
No. 3. White to Move.
Diagram No. 2 is the ending of our Illustrative Game No. 7.
In No. 3, White gives away a man, bottling up the three black men, and then catches the other black man. In both these examples it will then be Black’s move, and as he cannot move, White wins.
Notation.The various moves which take place in the course of a game are recorded by giving each square on the board a number, and putting down the number of the square the man is moved from, and the one it is moved to. Only those squares upon which the men stand are numbered, and the black men are always supposed to be originally placed upon the lower numbers, from 1 to 12; the white men being placed upon the squares numbered from 21 to 32. Diagrams Nos. 4 and 5 show the method of numbering the board, and the men placed in position.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 4.
No. 4.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 5.
No. 5.
In checker notation the number of the move is never given, as it is in Chess. The moves of the black men are distinguished from those of the white men by being hyphenated, but there are no marks to show when pieces are captured. Letters or figures in the margins are used to refer to possible variations in the play.
Openings.There are a number of standard openings in Checkers which are formed by the preliminary moves on each side. These openings are known by various fanciful names, dear to all checker-players. In the following list they are arranged in alphabetical order for convenience in reference.
The Middle Game.The best way for the student to learn the manner in which the various openings are followed up, is to play over illustrative games, and in doing so he should be careful always to play with the winning side next him. In selecting openings,take those that show the greatest number of wins for the side you propose to play. In all checker books there are marks at the foot of the column to show which side has an advantage, if any exists, at the end of each variation. The Alma, for instance, shows a great many more winning variations for the black men than for the white, and is consequently one of the best openings for Black.
Any person who plays correctly can always be sure of avoiding defeat; that is, no one can beat him if he makes no slips, and the worst he can get is a draw. It is a common error to suppose that the first move is an advantage. [See Illustrative Game No. 7.]
The strategy of the game consists in so deploying your men that alluring openings are left for your adversary. These openings are always pitfalls of the most dangerous character, and whenever you think a good player has made a mistake and left you a chance, you should examine the position with great care, or you will probably walk into a trap. The first of the example games given in this work is a case in point. White’s move, 27 24, is apparently the best possible, yet it immediately and hopelessly loses the game. Sometimes these traps are set very early in the opening, and sometimes after the pieces have been pretty well developed.
There are many cases in which a good player may take advantage of the weakness of an adversary by making moves which are really losing moves, and which would lead to immediate defeat if he were opposed by an expert. But if he feels that his adversary is not skilful enough to take advantage of these losing moves, a winning position may sometimes be rapidly obtained by departing from the regular development of the opening.
The beginner should be satisfied with learning only one or two forms of the openings, committing to memory as many variations as possible. When he meets with a line of play that beats him, he should study out the variation in his text books, and see at what point he made the losing move. To be perfect in any one opening a person must know at least five hundred variations by heart; but if he finds himself caught in a variation which he does not remember, or has never learned, he should trust to good judgment rather than to defective memory.
The End Gameusually resolves itself into one of four well-known positions. These four positions are those in which there is a win for one side or the other owing to the peculiar position occupied by the opposing forces, although they may be numerically equal. Every checker player must know these four positions thoroughly, or he may abandon many a game as drawn which he could win, and may lose many a game which he could draw. These four positions are here given as they are usually found in the books, but the player must be able to recognize at once anyposition which resembles them, or can be made to lead up to them. The student will find many games marked as “won” in which he cannot see any winning position unless he is familiar with the four endings. The expert strives to exchange his men so as to bring about one of these positions, after which he knows he has a won game, although his less skilful adversary may be unconscious of his advantage.
First Position.Black to move and win.WHITE.Checkerboard showing the layout describedBLACK.
First Position.
Black to move and win.
WHITE.
BLACK.
Second Position.Black to move and win.WHITE.Checkerboard showing the layout describedBLACK.
Second Position.
Black to move and win.
WHITE.
BLACK.
Third Position.Either to move; White to win.WHITE.Checkerboard showing the layout describedBLACK.
Third Position.
Either to move; White to win.
WHITE.
BLACK.
Fourth Position.Black to play and win. White to play and draw.WHITE.Checkerboard showing the layout describedBLACK.
Fourth Position.
Black to play and win. White to play and draw.
WHITE.
BLACK.
The first position is one of the most common endings on the checker board, and should be very thoroughly understood. The letters in the margin refer to the variations. There are a great many minor variations, for which the student must be referred to Janvier’s Anderson, page 265.
Traps.The beginner should be on his guard against being caught, “two for one,” especially in such positions as those shown in Diagrams Nos. 6 and 7.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 6.
No. 6.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 7.
No. 7.
In No. 6, White will play 19 16, forcing you to jump, and will then play 27 23, forcing you to jump again. In No. 7, White will play 30 26, making your man a King. He will then play 32 28, and wait for your newly made King to jump. This will give him three of your men, and he will catch the other before it gets to the king row.
Another common form of trap is to get a player into such a position in the end game, when he has only one or two men, that he cannot get to the king row without being caught; sometimes because he is driven to the side of the board by the man following him, and sometimes because the man meeting him can head him off. The adversary can do this only when he has “the move.”
Theory of the Move.When the position is such that you will be able to force your adversary into a situation from which he cannot escape without sacrificing a piece or losing the game, you are said to have the move; and if he does not change it by capturing one of your men he must lose the game. As the move is often of the greatest importance in the end game, every checker-player should understand its theory, so that he may know when it is necessary to make an exchange of men in order to secure the move, and when he should avoid an exchange which would lose it. The move is only important when the number of men on each side is equal.
In order to calculate the move, the board is supposed to be divided into two systems of squares, sixteen in each. The first system is formed by the four vertical rows running from your own side of the board, as shown by the dotted lines in Diagram No. 8. The second system runs from your adversary’s side of the board, as shown in Diagram No. 9.
FIRST SYSTEM.Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 8.
FIRST SYSTEM.
No. 8.
SECOND SYSTEM.Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 9.
SECOND SYSTEM.
No. 9.
In order to ascertain if you have the move when it is your turn to play, add together all the men, both black and white, in one of the systems, taking no notice of those in the other system, and if the number isodd, you have the move. In Diagram No. 10, for instance, if you have the black men, and it is your turn to play, you will find three men on your own system, and therefore you have the move, and must win by playing 10-15. When White moves, there will again be an odd number of men on your system, and you will still have the move, and he must sacrifice both his men.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 10.
No. 10.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 11.
No. 11.
In Diagram No. 11, if you count up the men on either your own or your adversary’s system, you will find that the number is even, and as you have not the move you should force an exchange immediately, which will give it to you, and win the game.
Every single exchange of man for manchanges the movewhen only one of the capturing pieces remains on the board, andthe following rule is given for ascertaining how proposed exchanges in complicated positions will affect the move:—The capturing pieces of both black and white in both systems must first be added together, and if the number agrees—in the matter of being odd or even—with that of the number of captured pieces in each system, the move will not be changed; but if one number so found is odd, and the other is even, the move will be changed.
The asterisk shows the losing move.
LOSING GAME.In this variety of Draughts, the object is to give away all your men before your adversary can give away his, or to block yourself so that you cannot move. The secret of success in Losing Game is to get your men on such squares that they cannot be made to jump to the king row. These squares will be the row next you on your own side of the board, and every second row from that, horizontally. Get your men on those squares as soon as possible, and do not be in too great a hurry to capture your adversary’s men.
POLISH DRAUGHTS.Although intended for a special board of 100 squares this game can be played on a common checker board. It differs from ordinary draughts in two particulars:
Although the men can move only forward, they can take backward, and Kings can go any distance at one move.
If in taking a piece, a man arrives at the king row, that does not end the move if he can capture another piece by jumping backward out of the king row again. As this brings him away from the king row before the move is complete, he will not be a king until he can get to the king row at the end of a move.
Kings can go any number of squares in a straight line, and can capture any piece which is on the diagonal, not protected by another piece behind it. Kings can also go on for any number of squares beyond the captured piece, and then turn a corner to capture another piece. In Diagram No. 12, for instance, the black King could capture all six of the white men by going over the first one only, and then turning to the left, and continuing to turn to the left after every capture, as shown by the squares with the numbers on them, which indicate his five successive turning-points.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 12.
No. 12.
DEVIL AMONG THE TAILORS.This is hardly a variation of the game of Draughts, although it is played on a checker board. Four white men, the tailors, are placed upon 29 30 31 and 32; and one black man, the devil, on 1. The men can move only one square at a time, diagonally; the white men forward only, the black man forward or backward. There is no jumping or capturing, and the object of the tailors is to pin the devil in, so that he cannot move. If the black man can reach the free country behind the white men, he wins the game.
The game is a certainty for the white men if properly played. At the end of four moves they should be lined up on squares 25, 26, 27, 28 and whichever end the devil attacks, the tailors should move in from the other end.
There are two critical positions.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 13.
No. 13.
Checkerboard showing the layout describedNo. 14.
No. 14.
In Diagram No. 13, if White moves 24 19 he loses, because Black goes to 11, and as the tailors advance to head him off, he goes back to 15 and 18, and then gets round by going to 14. White’s proper play is 22 18, after which 26 22 will reform his line.
In Diagram No. 14, if White moves 26 22, or 19 15, he loses immediately. In the first case Black will run to 15 and 11, and either get round or double back to 18. In the second case Black will get round by way of 7, or get through.
1.The Standard board must be of light and dark squares, not less than fourteen inches nor more than fifteen inches across said squares.
2.The board shall be so placed that the bottom corner square, on the left hand, shall be black.
3.The Standard men, technically described as White and Black, must be light and dark (say white and red, or yellow and black), turned, and round, not less than one inch, nor more than 1⅛ inches in diameter.
4.The men shall be placed on the black squares.
5.The black men shall invariably be placed upon the real or supposed first twelve squares of the board; the white upon the last twelve squares.
6.Each player shall play alternately with the white and black men, and lots shall be cast for the colour only once, viz., at the beginning of the play—the winner to have his choice of taking black or white.
7.The first play mustinvariablybe made by the person having the black men.
8.At the end of five minutes [if the play has not been previously made], “Time” must be called by the person appointed for that purpose, in a distinct manner; and if the play is not completed in another minute, the game shall be adjudged lost through improper delay.
9.When there is onlyone wayof takingone or morepieces, time shall be called at the end of one minute, and if the play is not completed in another minute, the game shall be adjudged lost through improper delay.
10.Either player is entitled, on giving intimation, to arrange his own or his opponent’s pieces properly on the squares. After the first move has been made, however, if either player touch or arrange any piece without giving intimation to his opponent, he shall be cautioned for the first offence, and shall forfeit the game for any subsequent act of the kind.
11.After the pieces have been arranged, if the person whose turn it is to playtouchone, he must either play it or forfeit the game. When the piece is not playable, he forfeits according to the preceding law.
12.Ifany partof a playable piece is moved over an angle of the square on which it is stationed, the move must be completed inthatdirection.
13.A capturing play, as well as an ordinary one, is completed whenever the hand has been withdrawn from the piece played, although one or more pieces should have been taken.
14.The Huff or Blow is to remove from the board, before one plays his own piece, any one of the adverse pieces that might or ought to have taken but the Huff or Blow never constitutes a play.
15.The player has the power tohuff,compel the capture, orlet the piece remain on the board, as he thinks proper.
16.When a man first reaches any of the squares on the opposite extreme line of the board, it becomes a King, and can be moved backward or forward as the limits of the board permit, though not in the same play. The adversary must crown the new King, by placing a captured man on the top of it, before he makes his own move.
17.A player making a false or improper move forfeits the game to his opponent.
18.When taking, if either player removes one of his own pieces,hecannot replace it; but hisopponentcan either play or insist on the man being replaced.
19.A Draw is when neither of the players can force a Win.When one of the sides appears stronger than the other, the stronger is required to complete the Win, or to show a decided advantage over his opponent within forty of his own moves—to be counted from the point at whichnoticewas given,—failing which, the game must be abandoned at Drawn.
20.Anything which may annoy or distract the attention of the player is strictly forbidden; such as making signs or sounds, pointing or hovering over the board, unnecessarily delaying to move a piece touched, or smoking. Anyprincipalso acting, after having been warned of the consequence and requested to desist, shall forfeit the game.
21.While a game is pending, neither player is permitted to leave the room without giving a sufficient reason, or receiving the other’s consent or company.
22.A player committing a breach of any of these laws must submit to the penalty, which his opponent is equally bound to exact.
23.Any spectator giving warning, either by sign, sound, or remark, on any of the games, whether played or pending, shall be expelled from the room.
24.Should any dispute occur, not satisfactorily determined by the preceding laws, awritten statement of factsmust be sent to a disinterested arbiter having a knowledge of the game, whose decision shall be final.
Backgammon is played by two persons, each of whom is provided with fifteen men, two dice, and a dice-box. The men on each side are of different colours, black and white, and the players are distinguished by the colour of the men with which they play. The board is divided into two tables,innerandouter, and at the beginning of the game the men may be set up in either of the positions shown in the diagram.