Coach
A case · you decide
Selka and the forced jump
Selka — a player who forgets that in draughts you do not choose whether to capture
Selka has a quiet developing move she loves — but a black man has just stepped where she can jump it. She reaches for her quiet move.
In draughts, capturing is compulsory: the instant a legal jump exists, every non-capturing move is illegal.
The skill is not "should I capture" but "which capture, and what does the position look like after". A forced move is still a move you must calculate.
A jump is available. What is Selka actually allowed to do?
The forced jump turns "attack" into "obligation" — the strongest players herd the opponent into captures that cost them.
A case · you decide
Doran counts the chain
Doran — a player who takes the first capture he sees instead of the longest
Doran sees a man he can take. He also, if he looks two squares further, could keep jumping — the same move removing three black pieces instead of one.
A single jump that lands next to another jumpable piece continues: the chain counts as ONE move, and every piece on the path comes off.
Before committing, trace each jump to its end. A shorter capture that wins one piece can be far worse than a longer one that clears three — or worse than declining material to keep your structure.
Two captures are legal: a one-piece jump, or a chain that removes three. Which does Doran calculate first?
Count the whole chain, then its consequence. The board rewards the player who sees the end of the sequence.
A case · you decide
Marn races for the crown
Marn — a player who trades pieces evenly without asking who is closer to a king
Material is level. But Marn has a man on the second-to-last row, and her opponent's nearest man is four rows from home. She is about to make a routine trade.
A crowned king in International draughts is a FLYING king — it slides any distance along a diagonal and captures from range. It is worth far more than a man.
When a man is one step from crowning and the opponent cannot stop it, spending a little material to force the promotion through can be the winning investment.
Marn can promote her man next move if she clears the path — at the cost of one man. What is the sound call?
Count kings, not just men. The first flying king often decides the game.
A case · you decide
Ivo unleashes the flying king
Ivo — a player with a new king who parks it like an ordinary man
Ivo just crowned a king and, out of habit, shuffles it one square as if it were still a man.
A flying king can travel the full length of an open diagonal in a single move and capture a piece far away, landing beyond it.
Its power is placement: on a long, central diagonal it eyes both directions, threatening captures across the board and forcing the opponent to defend everywhere.
Where should Ivo put the new flying king?
A flying king is a question the whole board must keep answering. Give it the longest diagonal you can.
A case · you decide
Petra keeps the opposition
Petra — a player who moves in the endgame without counting whose turn the position needs
Down to a few kings, Petra has a move that feels active — but it hands the initiative back, letting the opponent choose the moment.
In a sparse endgame the loser is often whoever must move OUT of a good square. Holding the position — making the opponent commit first — is the winning idea, the draughts cousin of chess's opposition.
A "useful-looking" move that surrenders a waiting move can flip a won ending into a lost one. Tempo is a resource: sometimes the best move is the smallest one that keeps the opponent on the clock.
Petra can lunge forward or play a small waiting move that keeps the opponent obliged to move. Which is sound?
In the endgame, count moves, not just pieces. The player who never runs out of waiting moves holds the win.
A case · you decide
Selka and Doran: count the chain before you choose
Selka & Doran — a player who knows a capture must be taken, and a friend who counts every capture to its end
Selka has two captures available. One takes a single man. The other jumps once, lands, and can jump again.
The single jump finishes on a square where Selka's man can be taken straight back.
Doran traces the second capture with a finger: two men taken, and the man finishes behind its own pieces, safe.
Which capture should Selka take?
Forced to capture, free to choose. Counting is what makes the choice good.
A case · you decide
Marn and Ivo: crown first, then take the long diagonal
Marn & Ivo — a player racing a man to the back rank, and a friend who knows what a king does once it gets there
Marn's man is one row from the back rank. Marn can crown now, or first take a man that is offered on the other side.
If Marn takes the offered man, the opponent blocks the crowning square next move.
Ivo points at the long diagonal. A king there would watch both wings at once.
What should Marn do this move?
Once crowned, where should Ivo's advice put the king?
Marn made the king. Ivo made it matter.