Italian Draughts

Italian Draughts

Italy’s national draughts variant with unique restrictions that protect kings and create a strict capture hierarchy. Men cannot capture kings at all, and when multiple captures are available, a complex priority system determines which must be taken. Governed by the Federazione Italiana Dama.

Setup

Board: 8×8 checkered board, dark squares only. The board is oriented with a double corner (two dark squares) on each player’s right side.

Pieces: 12 men per player on dark squares of the three nearest rows.

First move: White moves first.

Rules

• Men movement: Men move diagonally forward only, one square at a time.
• Men capture: Men capture diagonally forward only by jumping. Men CANNOT capture backwards. Men CANNOT capture kings (only kings can capture kings).
• Mandatory capture: Captures are compulsory.
• Capture priority (strict): When multiple capture sequences are available, the player must follow this hierarchy:
  1. A king must capture rather than a man (if both have captures available).
  2. Choose the sequence capturing the most pieces.
  3. If tied, choose the sequence capturing the most kings.
  4. If still tied, choose the sequence where a king is doing the capturing (over a man).
• Immediate removal: Captured pieces are removed from the board immediately.

King Promotion

• Flying kings: Kings move any number of unoccupied squares diagonally in any direction.
• King capture: Kings capture by jumping over a single opponent piece at any distance along a diagonal, landing on any open square beyond.
• Promotion rule: A man reaching the back row is promoted. If it reaches the back row during a multi-jump, the sequence ends and it is promoted (no continued capture as king).

Winning

A player wins when their opponent has no legal move: all pieces captured or all pieces blocked.

Strategy

The “men cannot capture kings” rule makes kings enormously powerful in Italian Draughts. Promoting first is even more decisive here than in other variants. The strict capture priority can be exploited: sacrifice a king in a position where the opponent’s king is forced to take it (by priority), opening up a decisive combination elsewhere.

Attribution

Traditional variant. Public domain. Governed by the Federazione Italiana Dama (FID). Source: Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA).