Checkers Strategy

"Checkers is an art, the practice of which will enrich your life."

(Irving Chernev)

With Checkers, like everything else, checkers strategy must begin at the beginning. Astounding words of wisdom? Of course not, but even the simplicity of this statement is basic truth. Although a checker player may have a natural strategy for this mind sport, s(he) doesn't jump into the game with no plan, no experience, and no strategic checkers strategy moves as part of the play. Each player must go through the agonizing trials of defeat, time and again, building on mistakes and learning from strategic plays of each opponent.

It’s easy to find a quiet corner of the room and set up the checkerboard, now facing an opponent. It’s easy to survey the game board and the positions of the 12 men in front of you. It’s easy to play a simple game of ‘Go-As-You-Please’ checkers, just having fun and not worrying about the outcome; however, it’s not so easy to play a serious, conscientious game that involves careful checkers strategy analysis of plays, subtle tactics and knowing how best to use every opportunity the board and your opponent offers you.

Developing a sound checkers strategy and a strong game takes practice! Lots of time and practice! That doesn't mean, however, that hearing such a statement should automatically discourage the would be player from the game and cause him/her to say, ‘To heck with this, I don’t have that kind of time. What nonsense!’ If this is the attitude, then a game of serious checkers is not for you, so move on to something else.

Many serious masters and grandmasters of checkers spent their lives playing against numerous opponents in a field of national and international tournament matches. Solid checkers strategy skills don’t appear at random overnight but take a certain mind set to develop:

It takes commitment and strategy.
Requires a willingness to read and research about the game.
Calls for time to record both good and bad plays.
Needs time to simply play, play, and then play some more games, not limiting the checkers games to easy opponents.
Ensure that you play against opponents who possess different levels of ability.

There is no secret rule or checkers strategy method to playing better checkers. It takes a lot of dedication, hard work and a true passion for the game itself. This, combined with a little guidance from popular resources and seasoned players, should allow any player, regardless of playing strategy strength, to improve his or her ability. The bottom line is that no matter how your slice the cake, it takes TIME to develop the skills that qualify a Master or Grand Master player. None the less, the end result is well worth the effort, as any checker champion will readily agree.

Although checkers is a relatively straight forward game, it comes with intricate checkers strategy layers of potential complexity built in, for a challenging checkers match contains depth, subtlety, and precision. This statement is simple truth because each move that each checker opponent makes may open up untold possibilities for both players, but at the same time, the same.

Therefore, it is always a good idea to keep a few basic strategies in mind when playing, even if the checkers game is only for fun. So, with that in mind, how should a novice player proceed to become a skilled checker strategy master? Some basic steps certainly apply and different checker professionals have their own advice based on their experiences and checker knowledge. So, of course, one of the best ways to learn how to improve your game is to study the methods of many top players and authors in the game and become familiar with their world of checker play. At the same time, however, each novice player must discover his or her own strengths and weaknesses within the board play and develop one’s own inherent gaming skills.

How to begin checkers Strategy

First, it is important to acquire a regulation set of checkers. Then, one of the most valuable tools at hand is to learn the checkerboard. It’s not simply a square board designed in alternating colors of squares, where the number of squares is dependent on the style of checkers being played. Each square has a purpose in the overall scheme of good checkers strategy play. If the board is not numbered, then the player can simply write the numbers in to achieve the same effect. Of course, one must remember to only mark on the dark squares, as they are the only ones used in game play; at least, this is the case for most variants of checkers.

Numbered Checkerboard

Checkers Game Board
Numbered for Checkers Strategy Play

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I have also told others about it. I'm the NCCheckers.org administrator and secretary for NCCA. I would love to see you playing checkers with us at Lebanon in August, 2009. You can check out the dates on www.usacheckers.com or www.nccheckers.org, a checker friend, JR Smith.

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