How to play Russian draughts

Flying kings and a free choice of capture on the 8×8 board, and a man crowned in the middle of a capture keeps going. The full rules, with the draw counts this site applies.

Russian draughts has two rules that give it its character. You may take any capture on offer, however small, and a man that reaches the far row during a capture is crowned on the spot and carries on as a king if it can capture again. Every diagram is an example position, with White at the bottom.

The start of a game

Play uses the 32 dark squares of an 8×8 board, each named by a letter and a number: files a to h from White's left and ranks 1 to 8 from White's side, so the corner at White's left hand is a1. Twelve men stand on each side, White on ranks 1 to 3 and Black on ranks 6 to 8, and White moves first.

White to move from the starting position. The men behind the third rank are blocked, so the first move comes from that rank, seven choices from a3-b4 to g3-h4.

Men and captures

A man steps one square diagonally forward, and only onto an empty square. Capturing is freer: it may jump forwards or backwards, over a neighbouring enemy piece to the empty square just beyond.

White to move. The man on d4 has a black man behind it on c3, and since a capture is compulsory it must jump back: d4:b2 is the only legal move.

A capture must be finished: while the piece can jump again, it goes on. Jumped pieces stay on the board until the move is over, so none can be jumped twice and each one still blocks the way. When several captures are possible, you may choose any of them, so look at what each one leaves behind.

White has two legal moves. d2:b8 takes three men and crowns on b8, and d2:h6, on the second board, takes two kings. Either is allowed.

Flying kings

A man that reaches the far row becomes a king, White on rank 8 and Black on rank 1. A king moves any distance along an open diagonal, in any direction.

The king on d4 has 13 moves: seven along the long diagonal from a1 to h8, and six along the diagonal from a7 to g1.

From any distance, a king can cross one enemy piece with a free square behind it and land on any free square beyond. But if one of those squares lets the capture go on, it must stop on a square that does.

The king on a1 takes c3. Every square from d4 to h8 is free, but the capture goes on only from e5, over f4, so it must stop on e5, and the only legal moves are a1:g3 and a1:h2.

Crowned in the middle of a capture

Here this rule set parts company with the others on this site. A man that reaches the far row while capturing becomes a king at that moment. If it can capture again it must, with a king's reach, in the same move.

The man on f6 takes e7 and reaches d8, where it becomes a king. As a king it must go on over c7, and it may land on b6 or a5, so the only legal moves are f6:b6 and f6:a5. The second board shows f6:a5.

So when an enemy man is one jump from your back row, look along the diagonals leading away from its landing square too, because a king may be moving along them before your turn comes.

A shot that ends in a crown

Your opponent's captures are compulsory too, so you can sometimes steer one of their men where you want it.

White plays c3-d4, and Black's only legal reply is a5:e5, taking two men and landing beside the man on f4. Then f4:b8 takes e5 and c7, and the man is crowned on b8. Five pieces remain on each side, and White has the only king.

Forcing captures shows how to look for these.

How a game ends

Run out of pieces or legal moves on your turn and you have lost. A draw can be proposed with Offer a draw. The other draws come from the Russian rules of 2022, and this site applies them by itself:

Repetition. The same pieces on the same squares, with the same side to move, for the third time.
Three kings or more against a lone king. With or without other pieces beside them, the stronger side must take the lone king by its own 15th move, counted from when that balance arose.
Three pieces against a lone king on the long diagonal. With none of the three on that diagonal, from a1 to h8, the stronger side has until its own 5th move to take it.
Kings on both sides, nothing taken or crowned. Five moves each with two or three pieces on the board, 30 with four or five, 60 with six or seven. Man moves do not restart this count.
Only kings moving. No man moved and nothing captured for 15 moves each with four or five pieces, or 25 with six or seven.

Neither of the last two counts applies with eight or more pieces on the board. A win reached on the last counted move beats the draw.

Three white kings against a black king on d4, on the long diagonal, with no white king on it. While that stays true White has until its 5th move, and once the lone king is off the diagonal only the 15-move count remains.

Three parts of the rules call for a referee or depend on the clock, and this site does not apply them: article 6.1.8.7, a referee calling a position clearly drawn; article 6.1.10.4, which depends on the time control; and the exception in the long diagonal rule for when a winning chance arises.

Writing the moves with a colon

A quiet move, one that captures nothing, joins its two squares with a dash, as in c3-d4. A capture uses a colon instead, as in d4:b2. A multiple capture writes only its start and end, so d2:h6 does not mention f4, and the squares in between appear only when two legal captures share both ends but take different pieces. The notation page compares this with the other rule sets.

The Russian lessons have you crown a man and carry on capturing yourself, and after that you can start a game under these rules.