Checkers · History
From alquerque to the board
Capturing by jumping is an ancient idea. The game of alquerque, played in the Middle East and Egypt, is usually named as the ancestor of checkers, and it travelled through the Islamic world to medieval Spain and the rest of Europe.
A new game on the chessboard
Around the twelfth century, players in France moved alquerque-style jumping onto the chessboard; the pieces were named “fierges” after the chess queen of the time. In the sixteenth century the rule that captures are compulsory was added, giving the game its modern form.
Draughts, checkers and their cousins
The game settled in Britain as “draughts” and in America as “checkers”, and the first dedicated book appeared in England in 1756. Russian shashki uses flying kings and backward captures, while the Netherlands and France developed international draughts on a 10×10 board.
A solved game
In 2007 a Canadian research team completed decades of computation and proved that 8×8 English checkers is a draw with perfect play from both sides. Between people, traps and endgame technique still decide the result.