Checkers Glossary — What Every Term Means

The most common checkers terms and what they mean at the board, ordered by how often you will meet them.

Man: An uncrowned piece. It moves one square diagonally forward and captures by jumping forward only.
King: A crowned piece. It moves and captures one square diagonally in any of the four diagonal directions — one square at a time, never sliding.
Kings row (crownhead): The far rank of the board. A man reaching it is crowned there, and if it arrives by a jump the move ends immediately.
Dark squares: The 32 squares the game is played on. Men and kings never leave them.
Compulsory capture: If any jump is available, it must be taken — a quiet move may not be played instead, no matter how bad the jump is.
Jump chain (multi-jump): Several jumps made in one move by the same piece. While a further jump is available from the landing square, it must be continued.
Maximum capture: A rule in international and Turkish draughts that is NOT part of English draughts: here any capture may be chosen, even one taking fewer pieces.
Crowning (promotion): Placing a second piece on a man that has reached the kings row, turning it into a king.
Blocked piece: A side with no legal move on its turn loses immediately — even with pieces still on the board.
40-move rule: If 40 moves by each player (80 half-moves) pass with no capture and no man movement, the game is drawn.
Threefold repetition: The same position occurring three times; a draw may be declared.
The move: An advantage in tempo: a position where the opponent is forced to move first into a losing exchange — central to checkers endgame play.

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