Play Russian draughts online on 9qum for free, right in your browser. Russian draughts, also called Russian checkers or shashki, are played on an 8×8 board. You only need a free one-minute sign-up, and nothing needs to be downloaded: the board works on a phone and on a computer.
Play against the computer at any time, or play rated games online against real people. To play a friend, send an invite link. If you are together, two players can share one phone or one screen.
In Play with a coach mode, a coach character plays against you and rates every move as best, excellent, good, inaccuracy, mistake or blunder. The coach gives hints, offers a take-back after a bad move and explains its comments aloud.
Russian draughts differ from American checkers (English draughts) in two big ways. Capturing is compulsory, and men can capture backwards as well as forwards. Kings are flying: they move and capture any distance along a diagonal, not just one square.
The basics stay the same: men move one square diagonally forward and become kings when they reach the far row. You win when your opponent has no pieces left or cannot make a move.
International draughts use a larger 10×10 board, while Russian draughts keep the familiar 8×8 board; on 9qum international draughts are a separate game. If you grew up with American rules, the flying kings will feel fast and sharp.
The computer has four levels. Novice is for children and complete beginners, Amateur gives a fair game to casual players, Strong punishes careless moves, and Master expects you to calculate captures and king moves carefully.
Playing the computer is also a good way to learn the compulsory capture rule: the game will not let you skip a capture, so you get used to looking for one on every move.
Games with people are rated with Glicko-2, and Russian draughts have their own tournaments. Every game is saved in your history, so you can replay it and find the moment the position turned.
The board fits any screen, and there is an Android app on Google Play. The site is available in English, Russian and Kazakh.
To learn Russian draughts from scratch, open the Learn section: a 17-step course on a live board covers the rules, the first tactics and how to win. To train your calculation there are Puzzles: 50 positions where you look for the best move and the board checks your answer at once.
Game analysis lets you play moves for both sides, set up your own position and ask the AI for advice. Games against the computer are saved in your history.
Yes, all modes are free: computer, online, friend by link, one screen and the coach.
Yes, a free sign-up that takes a minute. Your account keeps your rating and game history.
In Russian draughts men can capture backwards and kings fly any distance along a diagonal. Capturing is compulsory in both.
Yes. Create a game, send the invite link, and the game starts as soon as your friend opens it.
Russian checkers rules · Learn checkers with a coach
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