I’m going to try to explain my concern a little better. I am not complaining/questioning a forced draw. What I am complaining/questioning is the wording. It wasn’t just a draw. The message that popped up was, the other player “claimed a draw”. Not just “The Game ended in a draw”. It said, the other player “claimed a draw”. I want to know how to do that so if I’m about to lose a game I can “claim a draw”. What does that even mean?
Player “Claimed a Draw”
Posted in
Checkers
Player “Claimed a Draw”
A game can be drawn automatically, or a player may claim a draw in certain situations. In the original checkers variant: * 40-Move Rule: The game is an automatic draw after 40 consecutive king moves by each player without any captures, or after 300 total moves. * 3-Fold Repetition: If the exact same position repeats 3 times (with the same player to move), any player can claim a draw at that point. Furthermore, if a player's time runs out while a 3-fold repetition is active on the board, the game will be automatically declared a draw instead of a loss. * 5-Fold Repetition: If the exact same position repeats 5 times, the game is automatically declared a draw. If you believe a draw claim was not processed correctly under these rules, please take a screenshot and download the PDN export file. Send both to us so we can analyze the game. Thank you! (section "Insufficient Material" removed)
Edited by DEVELOPER
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Again, this was a game played in the past. I cannot travel back in time and get this elusive PDN file. I have looked for a PDN file while playing before, but I have no clue where it is. And as far as allowing a player to “claim a draw” seems to me to be completely unfair. The only reason this player claimed the draw was because I was slowly gaining the advantage. I was at the most five or six moves from winning. This was a mistake to allow, and I can’t believe anyone thought this was a good idea.
You can download the PDN file by clicking the download/export button. * On Desktop: The button is located in the top-left corner of the "Players" panel header. (Note: It is disabled and grayed out while the match is running, but becomes available in the game-over dialog once the game ends). * On Mobile: Tap the overlay menu button in the bottom-left corner of the screen. This opens the main match grid menu. The "PDN export" button is at the bottom, right next to the Sound toggle. (Just like on desktop, this button is disabled during an active match.) Regarding the draw rules: they are fully in accordance with the official WCDF (World Checkers/Draughts Federation) rules. The 3-fold repetition rule is triggered automatically based on the board state, regardless of which player has a positional advantage.
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I was flat out winning a game, when the other player claimed a draw. I don't remember but I am assuming there must have been a situation where we repeated 3 moves. I have since noticed players using this 3 repeated move rule to get out of a game they're losing. I don't like this claim draw thing at all, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it.
Hi Dev, Below, I have a PDN of one of my games where, yes, we were down to one king each, but my next move was a definitive win. My opponent claimed the draw one move before he would have lost. I can see how it would be difficult to know progmatically when players are in a one-piece-each draw situation and when they're not, but there are cases where the game can still be won: [Event "Online game"] [Site "www.flyordie.com/checkers"] [Date "2026.06.22"] [Round "2"] [White "guest#455782"] [Black "guest#455856"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteTime "R0:08:25"] [BlackTime "R0:08:52"] [Termination "normal"] [TimeControl "600"] [UTCDate "2026.06.23"] [GameType "21,B,8,8,N1,0"] 1. 11-15 22-17 2. 15-19 24x15 3. 10x19 23x16 4. 12x19 25-22 5. 8-11 17-13 6. 9-14 22-17 7. 6-10 13-9 8. 4-8 17-13 9. 1-6 27-24 10. 14-18 24x15 11. 10x19 26-23 12. 18x27 31x24x15 13. 11x18 28-24 14. 5x14 29-25 15. 6-9 13x6 16. 2x9 30-26 17. 8-11 26-22 18. 3-8 22x15 19. 11x18 24-19 20. 18-22 25x18 21. 14x23 21-17 22. 23-26 17-13 23. 9-14 19-15 24. 14-18 13-9 25. 26-31 9-5 26. 31-26 5-1 27. 26-23 1-5 28. 23-19 15-10 29. 7x14 5-9 30. 19-15 32-27 31. 8-11 27-24 32. 11-16 24-20 33. 14-17 20x11 34. 15x8 9-14 35. 18-22 14x21 36. 8-11 21-17 37. 11-15 17x26 38. 15-18 26-31 39. 18-23 1/2-1/2
Thank you for the PDN file. You are right, the draw claim was not valid in this position. We'll remove the "Insufficient Material" rule from the "Claiming draw" section in the next update, so this kind of position can no longer be claimed as a draw automatically.
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I recently experienced a game that was declared a draw when it shouldn't have been. Sometimes a player makes a series of moves that are intended to trap the opponent's last piece. However, the system automatically declares a draw as soon as both players have only one piece left, even when one player is clearly about to win. The players should be allowed at least six more moves before the system declares a draw. This would give the player with the winning position a fair chance to complete the trap and earn the victory instead of having the game end prematurely as a draw.
The draw rule has already been explained in detail by the DEVELOPER in this thread. If you believe a game was incorrectly declared a draw, then please provide the PDN of the specific game(s) so the position and move history can be reviewed properly. Without that, repeating general complaints that the rule is “flawed” serves no practical purpose and gives nothing concrete to investigate. If there are genuine examples of incorrect draw adjudication, post the PDN and they can be analysed. If not, then there is nothing further to add here. Further complaints in this thread without actual game records are unlikely to move the discussion forward.
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