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How to Win at Checkers

Checkers strategy requires a plan and forethought in order to win. Below are a few strategic tips that will help you work towards you goals…collect the opponent’s pieces, have your own pieces crowned as king and win the game:

Two for one OR three for one. A move where you sacrifice one of your pieces, knowing that you have set your opponent up to take two or three of his pieces in return.
Block the Kings Row from your opponent for as long as possible. If he cannot king his piece, he will be at a disadvantage.
Block game - Try to pre-think the opponents move and block him so that he can no longer make a move.
Move your piece between your own pieces and your opponent’s pieces to slip into a spot near the opponent’s piece without becoming captured.
Book play. Knowledge and confidence with the plays learned in dozens of books will be helpful for those wanting to compete on a higher level of play. The masters say that those playing without knowledge of the plays offered through these books are at a disadvantage and will not be able to become competitive players. (Book play will be discussed below.)
Do not jam up your pieces in the center of the board. That is the best way to be unable to make a move, and lose the game.
Pieces in the middle of the board have greater options than those along the edges.
Examine every possible move before you make it.
Towards the end of the game, centralize your kings.
Side moves can be very beneficial. You cannot be jumped when your pieces are along the sides.
If you do not have many pieces left or do not have a King, move your piece into the corner and move back and forth from that point. In that case, it will be more difficult for the other player to take your piece and you may even capture a few of your opponent’s pieces in the meantime.

Book Play Strategies: There are hundreds of articles and books written regarding book play. Those books are highly technical; yet interesting to those wanting to master the game of Checkers. The tactics that are learned are based on a series of moves. To learn each move, you must first study a numbered board and then study a play book. Each move is depicted by a number so that by following the numbers, you know which move to make. The moves are so commonly used by Checkers masters that they are even named. For example, the Defiance, the Pioneer, and the Switcher are all opening moves that may help you win the game. Below is the technical numbering for the Switcher as an example: