Italian draughts rules
Italian draughts - dama italiana - looks like English checkers at first: an 8×8 board, forward-only men, kings that step one square. Two things make it a different game: a man may never capture a king, and when several captures are available, a fixed order of laws decides which one you must play.
The board and the men
Twelve men a side in three rows, on an 8×8 board turned the Italian way: each player has a playing square in the right-hand corner nearest them, the mirror of the English setup - the same as in Spanish checkers. Light moves first.
How men move
One square diagonally forward onto an empty square. A man never moves backwards and never captures backwards either.
A man may not capture a king
A man captures by jumping an adjacent enemy man diagonally forward and landing on the empty square just beyond it. It may not jump a king: in Italian draughts only a king captures a king. A king sitting in front of an enemy man is safe from it, which changes how kings are used in the middle of the board.
A king captures by jumping an adjacent enemy piece - man or king - in any of the four diagonal directions. If the capturing piece can jump again from where it lands, it carries on, and the whole chain is one move. Jumped pieces stay on the board until the move is finished, so none can be jumped twice.
The capture laws, in order
Capturing is compulsory. When more than one capture is available, the choice is narrowed step by step, and each step applies only if the one before still leaves a choice:
- The most pieces. You must play a sequence that takes the greatest number of pieces.
- The king captures. If a king and a man could each take that many, the king must do it.
- The most kings. Among what is left, you must take the most enemy kings.
- A king first. If that still leaves a choice, you must play the sequence that meets an enemy king earliest.
The second law is the one Spanish checkers does not have: there the capturing piece is yours to choose once the counts are equal.
Kings
A man that ends its move on the far row is crowned. Promotion ends the turn: a man that reaches the far row in the middle of a capture stops there, as in English checkers.
A king moves one square diagonally, forwards or backwards. It does not fly.
Winning and drawing
You win by capturing every enemy piece or by leaving your opponent with no legal move. A draw comes from the third occurrence of the same position with the same player to move, or from 100 plies without progress - a capture, a promotion, or a man advancing a rank.
| Board | 8×8, Italian orientation |
|---|---|
| Pieces | 12 men per side, three rows |
| First move | Light |
| Man moves | One square diagonally forward |
| Man captures | Forward only, and never a king |
| King | One square in any diagonal direction |
| Capture | Compulsory; most pieces, then the king captures, then most kings, then a king first |
| Promotion | Ends the turn, including mid-capture |
| Draw | Threefold repetition, or 100 plies without progress |
Play it
Play Italian draughtsThe browser version is coming soon - no download, and no account before the first move.