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Draughts (International)·Board Games

FMJD

🏛️Official — FMJD

Fédération Mondiale du Jeu de Dames (World Draughts Federation)· FMJD Annexes, Annex 1 — Official FMJD rules for international draughts (last update 21 August 2024)Open source

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2v2

per sidePlayers

game board, playing piece, game clock

Equipment

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1. Introduction

International draughts is a mind sport between two players (1.1), played on a 100-square board. It is the form of draughts governed worldwide by the Fédération Mondiale du Jeu de Dames, and it is distinct from the 64-square game known in North America as checkers — the board is larger, and men capture backwards as well as forwards (4.1).

The people engaging in the sport are defined as the players (1.2), and the game may be played on an amateur as well as a professional basis (1.3).

Two features set the international game apart for a newcomer. Capturing is compulsory, and when several captures are available the one taking the largest number of pieces must be played (4.13). A king is not merely a man that moves backwards: it slides any distance along a diagonal (3.9), which makes endgames with a single king genuinely dangerous.

This summary follows Annex 1 of the FMJD Annexes, last updated 21 August 2024. Clause numbers in parentheses refer to that text. The FMJD notes that the annexes written in English are juridically superior to other translations.

2. Components

The Board

A square board divided into 100 equal squares, alternately black and white (2.1)
Play happens only on the dark squares, so 50 squares are active (2.2)
The skewed lines of dark squares are the diagonals; there are 17 of them (2.3)
The long diagonal joins two corners and comprises 10 squares (2.3)

Naming the Parts

Bases — the side of the board facing each player, which are the promotion lines (2.5.1)
Sides — the squares in the first and/or last column (2.5.2)
Rows — horizontal lines of 5 dark squares (2.5.3)
Columns — vertical lines of 5 dark squares (2.5.4)

Square Numbering

By convention the dark squares are numbered 1 to 50, without the numbers actually being written on the board (2.6)
Numbering follows the rows left to right, from the first square of the top row to the last square of the bottom row (2.6)
The promotion rows are numbered 1–5 and 46–50 (2.6.1)
The side columns are numbered 6-16-26-36-46 at the left and 5-15-25-35-45 at the right (2.6.2)
Squares 5 and 46 sit at the ends of the long diagonal and are called the corners of the board (2.6.3)

The Men

20 white or light-coloured men and 20 black or dark-coloured men (2.7)
A piece is either a man or a king, and the two move and capture differently (3.1, 3.2)
A playing clock is required whenever a time control is in force (10.2.1, 10.4)

3. Setup

Placing the Board

The board is placed between the players so that the long diagonal starts at each player's left-hand side; the first square at each player's left hand is then a dark square (2.4)
If the board is found to be wrongly positioned during a game, the game is annulled and has to restart (5.1)

Starting Position

The 20 black men occupy squares 1 to 20; the 20 white men occupy squares 31 to 50 (2.8)
Squares 21 to 30 — the two middle rows — start empty (2.8)
Compliance with the starting position must be checked before the game starts; an irregularity noticed later is handled under the general irregularity rule (5.2, 5.4)

Who Moves First

The first move of a game always belongs to the player with the white men (3.3)
Players then move alternately, each with their own pieces (3.3)
Any piece standing on a white square is inactive and can be brought into play only with the opponent's permission (5.3)

4. Gameplay

Moving a Man

A man moves forwards along a diagonal to an empty square of the next row (3.4)
A move is finished when the player has released the piece (3.10)
Touching one of your own playable pieces obliges you to play it, provided a legal move exists (3.11)
Until the piece is released you may still place it on another free square (3.12)
To tidy pieces without moving them, announce "I adjust" (or j'adoube) clearly and beforehand (3.13)
Touching or adjusting any piece when it is not your move is incorrect (3.14)

Kings

A king is a man that reaches and stops on a square of the promotion line nearest the opponent, and is crowned with a man of the same colour (3.5)
Either player may crown the man; if the opponent does not, crowning it is part of the mover's own move, and failing to do so is an irregular move (3.6)
A promoted man is a king even while uncrowned, and either player may crown it later — but playing with an uncrowned king is an irregular move (3.7)
A newly crowned king cannot move until the opponent has played (3.8)
A king moves forwards and backwards along its diagonal over successive free squares, and may come to rest on a distant free square (3.9)

Capturing Is Compulsory

Capture is possible both forwards and backwards, counts as one complete move, and you may never capture your own pieces (4.1)
When a man meets an opponent's piece diagonally with a free square behind it, he is obliged to jump it and occupy that square; the jumped piece is removed (4.2)
A king meeting an opponent's piece on its diagonal — close or distant — with one or more empty squares behind it is obliged to jump and may land on any free square beyond (4.3)
The capture of the largest number of pieces has priority and is obligatory; a king carries no priority and counts as one piece, exactly like a man (4.13)
Between captures of equal value the player chooses freely, with a man or a king (4.14)

Multiple Captures

A man that meets a further capturable piece during a capture must jump that second piece, and a third, and so on (4.5)
A king may turn a corner onto a perpendicular diagonal to continue a capture, finishing on a square of choice beyond the last piece taken (4.6)
It is forbidden to jump your own pieces during a multiple capture (4.7)
You may pass over the same empty square more than once, but never over the same enemy piece twice (4.8)
A man that merely passes over the promotion row mid-capture and ends elsewhere remains a man (4.15, confirming 3.5)

Executing a Capture Cleanly

A capture must be clearly indicated and executed in order; absence of clear indication is incorrect and the opponent may request rectification (4.4)
The move and the removal of captured pieces must be done with one and the same hand — using two hands is incorrect (4.4)
Indicate a multiple capture by putting the piece down on the empty square after each jump (4.9)
Captured pieces are lifted only after the capture is complete, in ascending or descending order of the capture, without stopping (4.11)
The capture is finished when all captured pieces have been lifted (4.4); removal is finished when the player has taken all of them or has clearly stopped (4.12)
When a man captures a single man, it is permitted to remove the opponent's man first and then jump (4.16)

Irregularities

On any listed irregularity the opponent chooses whether it is rectified or allowed to stand (5.4)
The list covers playing two moves in a row, moving irregularly, touching one piece and moving another, taking back a move, moving the opponent's piece, and playing a quiet move when a capture was available (5.4.1–5.4.6)
It also covers capturing the wrong number of pieces, stopping mid-capture, lifting pieces irregularly, removing too few, removing unjumped pieces, and removing one's own pieces (5.4.8–5.4.14)
Promoting without crowning, playing an uncrowned king, and using two hands are each irregularities (5.4.15, 5.4.16, 5.4.17)
An accidental disturbance of the position is not an irregularity, provided it is noticed at the same time (5.5)
Playing a move after the opponent's irregularity accepts it — rectification can no longer be obtained (5.7)
Partial rectification of an irregularity or a refusal cannot be tolerated (5.8)
A player refusing to comply with the official rules can be forced to comply by the opponent (5.6)

5. Scoring & Winning

Results

A game ends in one of two results: a win for one player and a loss for the other, or a draw (7.1, 7.1.1, 7.1.2)
A player wins when the opponent resigns, with or without reason (7.2.1)
A player wins when the opponent has the move but cannot move because all pieces are blocked (7.2.2)
A player wins when the opponent has no pieces left (7.2.3)
A player wins when the opponent refuses to comply with the rules (7.2.4)
A draw arises by mutual consent, or when the drawing rules apply (7.3, 7.3.1, 7.3.2)

Draw Rules

Threefold repetition — the same position occurring a third time with the same player to move is a draw (6.1)
25-move rule — if only kings move for 25 successive moves each, with no man moved and no capture, the game is drawn (6.2)
16-move endings — with three kings, two kings and a man, or one king and two men against a lone king, each side may play at most 16 further moves; a capture during them does not reset the count (6.3)
If the lone king occupies the long diagonal, that allowance drops to 5 moves (6.3)
Two kings, king and man, or king against king is drawn after 5 further moves each (6.4)
The exception that decides games: if the last of those moves produces a position lost under 7.2.2 or 7.2.3 — the opponent is blocked or has no pieces — that takes precedence and the game is a loss, not a draw (6.3, 6.4)

Notation

Because the active squares are numbered 1 to 50, every move can be recorded and a whole game replayed or transcribed (8.1, 2.6)
Write the starting square then the arrival square (8.2.1)
Separate them with a hyphen for a simple move (8.2.2) and a cross for a capture (8.2.3)
Move-quality signs: ! strong, !! very strong, ? weak, ?? very weak (9.1.3–9.1.6)
?! marks a move that looks weak but is strong; !? the reverse (9.1.7, 9.1.8)
* marks a forced move, any alternative losing (9.1.9); + a win and = a draw (9.1.10, 9.1.11)
+1, +2 record men won and -1, -2 men lost after the final move (9.1.12, 9.1.13)
a.l. (ad libitum) indicates a free choice between captures of the same result (9.1.14)

6. Variants & House Rules

Recognised Forms of Play

Normal games between two opponents face to face (11.1.1)
Simultaneous displays — one player facing a number of opponents at once (11.1.2)
Correspondence games, the moves sent alternately (11.1.3)
Blindfold play against a sighted opponent, without looking at a board and without recording (11.1.4), and blindfold simultaneous displays (11.1.5)
Games with a blind player, using a board with pieces in relief (11.1.6)
Handicap games in which the stronger player starts one or more pieces down (11.1.7)
Every form except ordinary face-to-face play has its own specific regulations (11.2); for correspondence and blindfold play the board is treated as if placed between the two players (11.3)

Time Control

A game may require a set number of moves in a given time, which makes a playing clock and full move-by-move transcription obligatory (10.1, 10.2.1, 10.2.2)
A game may instead give each player a fixed time to the end, in which case the clock is obligatory but recording is not (10.3, 10.4)
Clock handling itself lives in the FMJD Rules for Competitions, not in these game rules (10.5)

International Draughts Compared with Checkers

The FMJD game uses a 100-square board with 20 men a side (2.1, 2.7); English draughts and American checkers use a 64-square board with 12 men a side and are governed separately
In the international game men capture backwards (4.1); in English draughts they do not
The international king is a flying king, sliding any distance along a diagonal (3.9); the English king moves one square
The majority-capture rule (4.13) has no counterpart in English draughts, where any available capture may be chosen