The goal is to
capture all
of your opponent’s pieces or block them so they have no legal move.
Italian draughts is played on an
8×8 board
using only the dark squares. Each player
starts with 12 men
placed on the first three rows nearest them. The board is positioned so that each player has a dark square on their lower right.
Men move one square diagonally
forward to an empty dark square
. They
cannot move backward
unless capturing.
Captures are mandatory. A man captures by jumping diagonally forward over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square immediately beyond it. If another capture is possible after landing,
the same piece must continue capturing
.
When a man reaches the farthest row, it is promoted to a king. Kings move one square diagonally forward or backward.
Kings also capture
by jumping over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square beyond it.
When more than one capture is available, the player
must choose the move that captures the greatest number of pieces
. If tied, the player
must choose the capture involving the greatest number of kings
. If still tied, the player may choose.
In Italian draughts,
a man cannot capture a king
. Kings may capture both men and kings.
A player wins if the opponent
has no pieces left
or
no legal move
. The game is drawn if neither player can force a win.
The game is drawn when, for 40 consecutive pairs of moves, only kings have moved and no capture has been made.
The game is drawn automatically if there is no winner after 300 moves (150 each).
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 players 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.
If the opponent trivially
cannot win
(e.g., a single man or king vs. a single king), you can claim a draw on your turn.
Furthermore, if your
time runs out
in such a position, the game will be automatically declared a draw instead of a loss.
Italian draughts has several distinctive rules compared with other forms of checkers. For a side-by-side overview, see this
checkers variant comparison guide
.