Counting a checkers position before you move

Published

This page is about the board before a capture is forced. It is not a second copy of the rules. The guide already says that this edition is an 8 by 8 board, that Black moves first, that men move diagonally forward, that kings can move and capture backward, that a capture is mandatory, and that crowning ends a jump. The question here is what to count when you still have a choice of quiet moves.

When two captures are both legal, use the other article, choosing between two legal jumps. This page stops at the moment before that choice appears.

1. Count men and kings separately

A man and a king are not the same piece on this board. A man only steps and jumps diagonally forward. A king steps and jumps diagonally backward as well. Twelve men against twelve men is not the same game as eleven men against ten men and a king. Write the count as men, then kings, for each color, before you look for a plan.

The side with fewer pieces can still be ahead if it has the only king, because that king can return to help a man. The side with more men can still be stuck if every man is facing the wrong way and the king row is already lost.

2. Mark the empty squares on the king row

The king row is the far side, the row where a man becomes a king. An empty square there is a future king if a man of yours can land on it. It is also a landing square for the opponent if one of their men is close and your piece is the one they can jump.

You do not need to race every man at that row. You need to know which of those squares are empty, and which of your men is one step from them. A man that is one step away changes the next two turns more than a man that is still on your own back rank.

3. See who still holds the back rank

Your own back rank is the row your men started on. A man left there cannot be jumped by an enemy man, because an enemy man only jumps forward, and there is no square behind your back rank. Moving that man creates a hole. An enemy king, unlike an enemy man, can come backward into that hole later.

If both back ranks are still full, the game is about building a way through. If one back rank has a gap, the game is about whether a man or a king can use it. Count the gaps before you move a back-rank man just to have moved.

4. A quiet move should change one of those counts

If no capture is available, the legal moves are one-step diagonal steps. Prefer the step that does one of three things: it moves a man closer to an empty king-row square, it fills a hole you just noticed, or it stands beside a man so that an enemy jump would land in trouble. A step that does none of those leaves the counts the same and gives the opponent the interesting move.

The board on this site will highlight the steps. It will not tell you which step changes the count. Captures, when they exist, are mandatory, and then you leave this page for the jump article.

Examples on this board

  1. Equal men, one king. Each side has eight men, and Black also has a king. The king can step backward into a hole White just opened. Counting “nine against eight” misses why the king is the piece White has to watch. The men are even. The king is the extra.
  2. An empty king-row square. White has a man one diagonal step from the far row, and the square is empty. No capture is available. Moving that man crowns it. Moving a different man leaves the crown for a later turn, and Black may be able to occupy the approach first.
  3. A full back rank. All four of your back-rank men are still home. An enemy man cannot jump them from behind. Stepping one of them forward without a reason opens a square your opponent’s future king can use. Leave them until a count from the sections above gives you a reason.
  4. A hole you can fill. You moved a back-rank man earlier. The empty square is diagonally beside another man of yours. Stepping that neighbor back is not possible for a man. A king of yours, if you have one, can step into the hole. That is a different move from sending another man forward.
  5. A quiet move that forces nothing. You can step a man forward into an empty square that does not approach the king row and does not stand next to an enemy man. Black’s reply can be the man who does approach. Your move was legal. Theirs changed the count.

Why it matters

Checkers turns look small because a man moves one square. The count is what makes a small step large: a new king, a new hole on the back rank, or a man that is finally beside a friend. Players who only look at the piece they are pushing hand over the king row and then discover that a man cannot step backward to fix it.

The date is 2 October 2026. This page describes the live board’s men, kings, and king row. It does not change the public queue, and it does not change the rule that a capture is mandatory when one exists.

Closing

Before a quiet move, count men and kings, mark empty king-row squares, and check the back rank you would be opening. If a capture exists, stop and read which jump to take. The home page plays the same 8 by 8 rules, so a king you count here is a king you can move there.