Checkers · 7 min read

International Draughts (10×10): Rules and Flying Kings

A bigger board and more pieces

International draughts is played on a 10×10 board rather than the familiar 8×8, and again only the dark squares are used. Each player begins with twenty men, arranged on the dark squares of the four rows nearest them. That leaves two empty rows in the middle. The extra size is not just cosmetic: more pieces and more room create far longer games with deeper plans, which is why many consider it the more demanding version.

Men move forward but capture in every direction

As in the smaller game, an ordinary man moves one square diagonally forward on a quiet turn. The first big difference appears when capturing. In international draughts a man may jump an enemy piece forward or backward. So a piece behind your lines is not automatically safe, and threats can appear from any diagonal. This single rule changes how careful you must be with every move.

The majority-capture rule

Capturing is compulsory, and international draughts adds a strict extra rule: you must play the capture that removes the greatest number of enemy pieces. If one jumping sequence wins three pieces and another wins two, you are forced to choose the one that wins three. You count the entire chain of a sequence, not just its first leap, before deciding which line is required. When two different sequences capture the same maximum number, you may pick either.

The flying king

When a man reaches the far back row it is crowned, and here the king is a flying king, the star of the whole game. A flying king slides any distance along a clear diagonal in a single move, like a bishop in chess. When it captures, it can spot an enemy piece far down an open diagonal, jump it, and land on any empty square beyond, then, if another target lies on a new diagonal from that landing square, turn and continue capturing. One flying king can sweep the board from a safe distance.

Why it runs deeper than 8×8

Put these differences together, backward captures for men, the must-take-the-most rule, and long-range flying kings, and the 10×10 game rewards calculation far more than the small board. Combinations can sacrifice several men to force the opponent through a forced sequence that ends in a devastating recapture. That richness is exactly why international draughts has such a strong competitive following, and why fewer beginner sites teach it well.