Can you move backwards in draughts

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Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. Related Hot Network Questions. Can a king kill a king in chess? What happens if you run out of moves in checkers? Can you jump a king in Draughts? Can a king move sideways in chess? Why is the king so weak in chess? Can a pawn kill a king?

What happens if King reaches other side? Can you win chess with just a king? Is there a 16 move rule in chess? Can a chess game end with 2 Kings? Previous Article What happens when you jump a king in Checkers? Next Article How do Kings move in checkers? Back To Top. However, everyone who begins their adventure with draughts should remember that the rules followed by people in different countries are not the same.

A Spaniard likes to play according to his rules, but most likely a Brazilian or an American will choose different ones. If, in addition to the general rules, you are also looking for more detailed information about game variants, you've reached the right place Check Variety of draughts - did you know that draughts game rules may differ? Who starts the game? White pieces but The first move belongs to the player using white pieces.

Players take turns every single move and the player is permitted to move only his own pieces. In general, pieces can be moved diagonally, forward and be placed on the empty field in the next row. Still, there are exceptions to this rule, e.

Turkish draughts. Less experienced players often wonder if a piece can move back. The rules clearly emphasize that moving back is not allowed. King also named a queen is a special piece, which can move differently to all the other pieces - and anyone who has ever tried to play draughts, knows how important it is to get a king, as well as how the king can help to win quickly.

But none of the pieces has these exceptional privileges at the beginning of the game. It takes a lot of effort to make a piece to become a king - your piece needs to walk through the entire board, reach the promotion line the most distant row on the opponent's side and stop on it.

Unlike other pieces, a king can move forwards as well as backwards. In most variants of draughts, the king moves diagonally, provided that your own pieces are not blocking the king's movements and at the same time that the king will not be blocked by your opponent's pieces placed one behind another.

King is allowed to end diagonal movement on any, even the most distant field. The exception to this rule is English draughts and American checkers - a king can only move one field forwards or backwards. A coin is tossed to decide which player will be black.

Each player's pieces are placed on the 12 black squares nearest to that player. The white squares are not used at all in the game - the pieces only move diagonally and so stay on the black squares throughout. The objective of the game is to take all of the opponent's pieces or to produce a position such that the opponent is unable to move. Play Players take turns to move a piece of their own colour.

Any piece that reaches the far edge of the board is immediately crowned and is thereafter known as a "King". The act of crowning is a physical one - another piece of the same shade is placed on top of the piece in order to distinguish it from an ordinary piece.

Until a piece is "crowned", it can only move and capture in a diagonally forwards direction. Kings are allowed to move and capture diagonally forwards and backwards and are consequently more powerful and valuable than ordinary pieces. However, ordinary pieces can capture Kings. Whenever a piece has an opponent's piece adjacent to it and the square immediately beyond the opponent's piece is vacant, the opponent's piece can be captured.

If the player has the opportunity to capture one or more of the opponent's pieces, then the player must do so. A piece is taken by simply hopping over it into the vacant square beyond and removing it from the board. Unlike an ordinary move, a capturing move can consist of several such hops - if a piece takes an opponent's piece and the new position allows it to take another piece, then it must do so straight away.

The move finishes only when the position of the capturing piece no longer allows it to taken any more pieces or when an uncrowned piece arrives at the far edge of the board and is crowned.

If more than one piece can capture, then the player is entirely free to choose which of those pieces to move. Likewise, if a capturing piece is able to capture in more than one direction, the player is free to choose which direction to move in.

If no capturing moves are available, then an ordinary move is made by moving a piece one square diagonally.