In 1956, the hegemony of the French and the Dutch was broken: the champion was Canadian Marcel Deslauriers. Then, for nearly sixty years, the title was held by representatives from either France or the Netherlands, including Herman Hoogland, Stanislas Bizot, Marius Fabre, Ben Springer, Maurice Raichenbach, Pierre Ghestem, and Piet Roozenburg. It was won by Frenchman Isidore Weiss, who held the title for eighteen years with seven world championship titles. The first world championship was held in international draughts in 1894. Number 5 is at the left corner seen from the player with the dark pieces. Number 46 is at the left corner seen from the player with the light pieces. Įach of the fifty dark squares has a number (1 through 50). Before a proposal for a draw can be made, at least 40 moves must have been made by each player.If there are only three kings, two kings and a piece, or a king and two pieces against a king, the game will be considered a draw after the two players have each played 16 turns.If, during 25 moves, there were only king movements, without piece movements or jumps, the game is considered a draw.These are extra rules accommodated in some tournaments and may vary: A king-versus-king endgame is automatically declared a draw, as is any other position proven to be a draw.The game is considered a draw when the same position repeats itself for the third time (not necessarily consecutive), with the same player having the move each time.A game is a draw if neither opponent has the possibility to win the game.This occurs if the player has no pieces left, or if all the player's pieces are obstructed from moving by opponent pieces.
A player with no valid move remaining loses.Crowned pieces, sometimes called kings, can move freely multiple steps in any direction and may jump over and hence capture an opponent piece some distance away and choose where to stop afterwards, but must still capture the maximum number of pieces possible. Another piece is placed on top of it to mark it. A piece is crowned if it stops on the far edge of the board at the end of its turn (that is, not if it reaches the edge but must then jump another piece backward).The same piece may not be jumped more than once.(So for a multi-jump move, jumped pieces are not removed during the move, they are removed only after the entire multi-jump move is complete.) A jumped piece is removed from the board at the end of the turn.One must play with the piece that can make the maximum number of captures. It is compulsory to jump over as many pieces as possible. Multiple successive jumps forward or backward in a single turn can and must be made if after each jump there is an unoccupied square immediately beyond the enemy piece.If a jump is possible it must be done, even if doing so incurs a disadvantage. Enemy pieces can and must be captured by jumping over the enemy piece, two squares forward or backward to an unoccupied square immediately beyond.Ordinary pieces move one square diagonally forward to an unoccupied square.The player with the light pieces moves first.In the starting position (see illustration) the pieces are placed on the first four rows closest to the players. The lower-leftmost square should be dark. The game is played on a board with 10×10 squares, alternatingly dark and light.The main differences from English draughts are: the size of the board (10×10), pieces can also capture backward (not only forward), the long-range moving and capturing capability of kings known as flying, and the requirement that the maximum number of men be captured whenever a player has capturing options.
All references to squares refer to the dark squares only. The general rule is that all moves and captures are made diagonally. The name "Polish draughts" was following a Dutch convention of the time that wrong or unnatural ideas were considered "Polish".
5.2 List of top international draughts programsĪccording to draughts historian Arie van der Stoep, the 100 square draughts board came into use in the Netherlands between 15, and the number of pieces was extended to 2x20 between 16.