To put this advice into practice, advance a piece toward an area on your board where your opponent has fewer pieces, or pieces that are more spread out. If you can protect this piece with nearby pieces and sacrifices, then you have a good chance at making a king. See Intermediate Strategies below for how to “redirect the enemy” and sneak through a king.
Remember that you won’t be able to keep your back row intact forever. Once you’re low on pieces or you see an opportunity for an advantageous trade, don’t hesitate to move out.
“Following” a piece you moved earlier before you move it again will leave your front piece less open to capture. Following it with two pieces is even safer, since you can block capture from two directions. See Intermediate Strategies to learn how to form “trapping pairs”.
For example, if you have 5 checkers and your opponent has 4 checkers, then the board is almost equal. But once you trade three pieces each, you have a huge advantage with twice as many pieces as your opponent.
It takes practice to judge how many pieces you need to commit to the center in a particular game. As a general rule, you should try to build up enough of a position that the opponent is unable to safely advance anywhere except the left and right edges. After that goal is achieved, adding more of your pieces can actually clog up your board and lower your options.
If you’re trying to crown a piece but your opponent is pursuing it, you can sacrifice a less important piece to lure the pursuer away from your soon-to-be king. [7] X Research source If you have a diagonal line of pieces, moving the forward one toward the enemy can force a capture that places the enemy piece next to another of yours. Make sure you don’t open yourself up to a double capture![8] X Research source
Move piece 2 toward your opponent’s pieces, so that it is in danger of being captured. The forced capture rule requires your opponent’s piece A to jump piece 2, but it cannot then jump piece 1 because it is against the edge of the board. After your opponent has captured your piece 2, the you can use your piece 1 to jump piece A. In the basic scenario described, this is an unexciting 1-for-1 trade. However, after setting up your trapping pair, you can often wait to “trigger” it until the opportunity for a double capture arises.
Move the pieces in A group almost exclusively at the start of the game, only occasionally moving a B piece when there is no good A move. When you begin trading pieces with your opponent, trade A pieces over B pieces whenever possible. Once a few capture exchanges have happened, your opponent will likely be concentrated on the side of the board with your A pieces. Begin advancing your B pieces in groups and you’ll be in a strong position to crown past your opponent’s depleted defenses.
Memorizing specific board states from the mid-game and endgame can be useful as well, but you’re much less likely to encounter a specific midgame in a tournament than one of the standard openers.
