Checkers Capture – The Best Offensive Move in Checkers

In the game of checkers, a checkers capture is defined as eliminating an opposing player’s checkers piece, thereby removing it from the checker board and effectively rendering it out of action. It is an offensive maneuver that reduces your opponent’s checkers pieces and can ultimately result in his or her defeat.

Captures in checkers are the eventual result of moving forward on the checker board, although you do have to plan for it to happen. When you do capture your opponent’s checkers piece you will want it to work to your advantage and hopefully not result in one of your checkers pieces being captured as well. This is why the set up that leads to the capture is particularly important.

Here are some important things to remember with regard to executing a checkers capture:

• A checkers piece that is making a non-capturing move is allowed to move only one square at a time.
• A checkers piece that is making a capturing move jumps over one of the opponent's checkers pieces, ending up in a straight line on the other side of the piece that is being jumped over. This action is carried out in a diagonal motion.
• In a single jump, only one piece can be captured although a player is allowed to make multiple jumps on a single turn.
• If there is a checkers capture option available to a player, he or she must make that jump. If there are more than one captures available however, the player can choose which jump to make.
• A piece that manages to reach the furthest row from the advancing player (the first row of the opponent) is crowned and becomes a king. One of the checkers pieces that had been captured previously is then placed on top of the king to set it apart from the other pieces on the board.
• While a king is limited to moving in a diagonal direction, it can move forward and backward, whether it is making a capture or not. Single checker pieces on the other hand, can only move forward.
• In addition, kings can make any number of jumps in different directions in a single turn, as long as it is in a diagonal direction.
• The game ends when a player cannot make any more moves, or if all of his or her checkers pieces are captured.