Checkers is an ancient game that has passed through the ages. History of checkers

Finally, finally, we got to them, relatives, for whom (or what) all this was started! Surprisingly, the Slavic tribes of ancient Russia, for some unknown reason, never created any original, authentic board games, and if there were any, there was no evidence of them, and only checkers became a truly mass, national board game for Russia. All Russian drafts terminology to this day has a crafty, vulgar character: “stake”, “poke”, “jamb”, “sieve”, “sacrifice”, “lyubki”, etc.

RUSSIAN CHECKERS

Checkers got to Russia, most likely, through Poland under the name "ladies", their further development took place under the strong influence of the Spanish drafts rules. The historian I.A. Khainovsky believes that Princess Olga from Byzantium brought checkers to Russia in 956 after visiting Constantinople (the question of what kind of game it was - clamping, orthogonal system or diagonal, and which board - ashtapada or alquerca grid, the scientist leaves without response).

In addition to the "southern" version, there is a "northern" one, according to which the Scandinavians brought checkers to Russia. This conclusion is suggested by the finds of bone and glass chips near Smolensk and the excavations of the Black Grave near Chernigov, as well as the burials of Staraya Ladoga and a number of Gnezdovsky barrows, where playing figures were found. It says a lot about the fact that the centers of gaming culture in those days were Pskov and the Novgorod Republic - trade crossroads where Europe met Asia. In local archaeological finds, there are boards for the Mill, as well as chips and figures. Archaeologists first considered these finds to be chess, and then - checkers. Academician B.A. Rybakov wrote: “Given the standard nature of all bone pieces, it is difficult to recognize them as chess pieces, since not only pawns should have been preserved”. Another St. Petersburg historian, G.F. Korzukhina, also claimed that the game of checkers in Russia disappeared at the beginning of the 11th century with the departure of the Varangian mercenaries, but her remark changes everything, that a set of 10 checkers badly damaged by fire also included ... two "King", which had the shape of a flattened hemisphere with a flat button at the top. In the light of recent scientific research, it can be assumed that in all these cases there was a series of misconceptions, and if some kind of game came to Russia with the Varangians, it was a tafl, where “only pawns” played on both sides.

In Russia, checkers were called differently: “tavlei”, “ladies”, also “saki” and “leki”. Presumably "leki", comes from the Latin latrunkuli ( "Have Leks and Chess and Stay", - says the Novgorod helmsman of 1280). The similarity of the names of the game chip and the chopping edged weapon is the result of an accidental divergence: the first, as already mentioned, is a distorted “steps”, the second is also a distorted Circassian name for a long combat blade “saishkho”. A curious example, when the similarity of the action (both that and this “checker” cuts and beats) led to the complete identity of the names.

The game of simple checkers was called "strong", "strong" or "strong checkers", reverse checkers were called giveaways. “He plays hard,” they said about a good drafts player. The word "ladies" in relation to the checkers game in the Russian language did not take root, and only the Russian "bring" - a chip that reached the 8th horizontal, changed its name to a smart Polish "lady".
Historian V.E. Buchnevich in "Notes on Poltava and its monuments" in 1902 writes: “During the analysis of things, several holy icons were found, turned by the Swedes into chessboards. One of them is still kept in the village. Zhukah, Poltava district. […] Under the framed icon (on which the Swedes carved a chess player for playing kings) the following verses were written on blue paper, composed by Archpriest Ivan Zhuchenko in 1780:
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... footstools and ladies from the icon composing

From the icons, bend the boilers to the rude icons,

From the icons, alas, platforms were made for horses.

Then that holy icon also suffered,

To the south, a cursed hand is pre-drawn into the ladies.
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There is a legend that Peter I donated 12 rubles for fir oil for a lamp in front of this icon..

Meanwhile, Peter I himself adored checkers and even introduced a rule that at assemblies a special room should always be allocated for the game of checkers. Some historians give priority to chess, but I have no doubt that it was checkers. This is confirmed by an excerpt from the diary of the Holstein chamber junker Berchholz, who was then in St. Petersburg: “What I don’t like about these assemblies is, firstly, that in the rooms where the ladies and where they dance, they smoke tobacco and play checkers, from which there is a stink and clatter, which are not at all appropriate for ladies and music ...”. At the assemblies, the tsar himself often played checkers with the boyars, and the conditions were as follows: if the tsar won, the barbers immediately cut off the boyar's beard. One boyar beat the sovereign three times in a row, for which he was granted the right ... to remain forever with a beard.
Suvorov, Derzhavin, Belinsky and Pushkin knew and loved the game of checkers, and the game between the literary heroes Nozdryov and Chichikov, described by Gogol, became a textbook.

Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) wrote a whole poem "Checkers", and, judging by the text, he meant not 100-cell Polish, but 64-cell Russian or Spanish drafts. Mayakovsky, Alexander Grin, Sholom Aleichem, Dal Orlov and many other Russian writers, poets, actors, artists and other figures of culture, science and art adored drafts, one listing of which would take several pages.

In 1791, the Rules for the Checkers Game were first published in Russia. The very first Russian book-textbook, “A Guide to a Thorough Knowledge of the Checkers Game, or the Art of Beating Everyone in Simple Checkers”, was published in 1827 with a circulation of 100 copies, it was published anonymously, although today it is known that the famous Moscow chess player Alexander Dmitrievich Petrov was its author ( 1794-1867), in the second half of his life he devoted a lot of effort and energy to the study and promotion of the Russian drafts system.

This is a grandiose figure in the history of Russian checkers. A prominent theorist, enthusiast and ascetic, he himself played superbly, published books and magazines, was interested in foreign literature and tirelessly searched for nuggets from the people. In his Memoirs, he wrote: “I played pretty well in simple hard checkers and giveaway checkers, but I met players stronger than me ... Andrey Petrovich Popov was the strongest of all. I met him in the thirties ... A full, healthy man ... with an intelligent physiognomy, 45 years old, silent. I always played hard with him. At first he beat me mercilessly. Out of 10 games, I barely managed to win one... After playing with him for two months, I finally reached the point that out of 3 games I won one and lost two, not counting draws. He also played chess, but weakly: I could give the rook forward ...».

Judging by the notes of Petrov, at that time in the merchant shops and malls of both capitals the game was serious. They played a certain number of games for a bet, at a very fast pace, while inexperienced players fell into traps, often losing checkers for fuk. In the 30s of the 19th century, I.P. Seleznev, nicknamed Lame, was a strong checkers player. The aforementioned A.P. Popov mentioned him in a letter to Petrov in 1847: “I had the chance to see glorious players in Moscow and I tried to get to know the first of them briefly. This is a Moscow tradesman Ivan Petrovich Seleznev. We played 30 games with him at any time, and I, taking a draw from him, lost to him in rubles (each game was a nickel silver, and then for me, but with the rich he plays a gold game), because it is rarely very to win a draw... Out of all of Moscow, only two do not take a draw from him, but they cannot keep up with him. But he did not dare to give me a saber forward.

Another player is mentioned by M. Gonyaev in the magazine "World Illustration", in the article "Memories of Khromy and Yakovlev": “In the early 1850s […] the two strongest drafts players who ever lived in Moscow died. One was called Ivan Petrov Khromoy (he limped heavily), the other was Dmitry Yakovlev. […] Until 1812, Khromoy had a small shop in Gostiny Dvor, and Dmitry Yakovlev was a wealthy tradesman, but because of his passion for drafts, the first sold his shop, and the other also completely lived, and in 1849, when I both of them found out that both of them, as they say, were already fighting for existence.

In terms of play, they were equivalent, and in the final positions, in my opinion, Dmitry Yakovlev was even better, but on the other hand, Khromyy's initial staging of games was more skillfully worked out ... so after 4 or 5 moves your game seems good, but it comes out after .. ... what... no matter what variation you play... everywhere you lose... Ivan Petrov himself treats Dmitry Yakovlev's game with respect and calls him "the player's stronghold".

In his memoirs, Petrov bequeathed that the names of such players be preserved in the annals of drafts history. However, in those years, among drafts players it was not customary to share discoveries and findings with each other, on the contrary, the secrets of skill were jealously guarded, games were not recorded, and we can only guess what kind of “double traps” the Russian masters built for each other.

Here's what the press said at the time: “... the middle class, among which the game is distributed, is interested in the game not to develop its theory, but only in its process (sometimes reaching high perfection in the game) ... in order to turn the game into a more or less profitable commercial, and sometimes even gambling ...

Most people play checkers in Moscow. The game is mainly distributed among the merchants of the so-called "city" (the area of ​​Nikolskaya, Ilyinka, Varvarka streets). There are certain meeting places for members of the circles. There ... they play a lot and for a lot.

Leo Tolstoy wrote in his diaries: “I went to Dyakov. I played checkers at Smolensky, I was locked up at thirteen. It's funny that it was unpleasant"(“13”, i.e., the “mirror of the Russian revolution” was locked up by a lady and a simple one). Do you remember the phrase “Better death than complete”, which Prince Igor says to the soldiers in “The Tale of the Regiment”? Here, in Russian drafts, the same view of capture has been preserved: if the drafts are threatened with locking, it is better to give them up than to be captured: this is not so shameful, and the loss on points is less. No wonder the author of "War and Peace" was unhappy with such a loss.

In checkers, the “rule of anger”, borrowed from alquerque, was kept for a long time. Let me remind you: cutting in checkers is obligatory, and the chip that “missed” such an opportunity (or deliberately ignored it) was removed from the board. In Russia, it was called "take the fuk." Interestingly, a similar euphemism was used in English: “huffing” a checker (“huffing”). Players did not immediately realize that such a system is fraught with a side effect. Created as a penalty to punish gaping players, the fuk has become a tactic, a vile indulgence that kills the game, because in order to balance profit and loss, it is sometimes more profitable for a player to give up one checker for a fuk than to lose 3-4 at once during the subsequent inevitable series of captures. Fook greatly interfered with the development of the drafts composition: the most pretentious and beautiful combination was not worth a penny if the sacrifice of just one chip could annul it.
One of the first to propose to cancel the "rule of anger" was the Dutch grandmaster Ephraim van Emden. Petrov was also a great opponent of the fuk, but it took almost a hundred years before the fuk finally fell into disuse. A large role in the removal of this rudiment was played by 100-cell checkers, whose combinative wealth could flourish only after the disappearance of the “rule of anger”. A lot of drafts etudes and problems immediately appeared: the example of a hundred cells turned out to be contagious. As a result, the fook was finally outdated in Europe by the end of the 19th century, although the English checkers resisted for several more decades. In Africa, however, fuk still lives and flourishes (for example, in the Republic of Ghana, where it is customary to play local checkers damia at the speed of table tennis).

The history of checkers has preserved many names of great Russian players and theorists of the checkers game, who did a lot for the promotion and development of checkers: S. Komarov, N.N. Pankratov, brothers A.I. and V.I. Shoshin, P.P.Bobrov, P.N.Bodiansky, S.Vorontsov, F.Kaulen, V.Sokov and many others. Davyd Ivanovich Sargin was a great lover of all kinds of checkers, whose work “The Antiquity of the Games of Checkers and Chess”, largely naive and contradictory, still remains the most meticulous and complete study of the history of checkers at the beginning of the 20th century. Mikhail Konstantinovich Gonyaev was an active propagandist of checkers. It was under him that the theory took shape, periodicals appeared, where analytical studies and the best drafts games were published, regular competitions began to be held, the game left taverns and merchant shops, becoming the entertainment of intellectuals and the elite of society.

So, let's move on to the rules.

* Board 8x8. Traditionally, black and white players play, the arrangement is standard, mosaic, in three rows, on black fields. The orientation of the board is chess (the white field is to the right of the player, the "highway" runs from left to top to the right), the notation is alphanumeric.

* White makes the first move.

* If a piece became a queen during a series of captures, after the transformation it continues cutting without stopping, already according to the rules of the king.

* A series of captures the player is obliged to bring to the end, however, when choosing from two or more options for capturing, he has the right to choose any, regardless of the number and quality of the captured or capturing checkers.

* "Turkish strike" in Russian drafts is prohibited: a chip during a capture cannot cut the same chip twice.

Chopped enemy checkers are removed only after the end of the move.

* At the end of the game, if the player finds it difficult to win, after 30 moves from both sides the game is declared a draw.

Sometimes (and in modern times - very rarely at all) amateurs practice the “kerchief” arrangement, in the corner - this option is called “diagonal checkers”.
To some extent, such an arrangement provokes a sharper game, returning us to the times of the alquerque: only the “highway” remains free in diagonal checkers before the start of the game. It is never used in sports checkers and tournaments.

After the civil war of the 1920s, with the beginning of the construction of socialism and a new society in Russia, checkers took shape as a sports discipline. The first championship of the USSR in Russian drafts was held in 1924 in Moscow, and the first champion was V.V. Medkov, later also a grandmaster and a prominent theoretician. In the 70s and 80s, players from Ukraine and the Baltic States simply shone, as well as Muscovites, among whom checkers have always been popular.

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HUNDRED-CELL (INTERNATIONAL) CHECKERS

According to legend, international or hundred-cell drafts originated in Paris. Harold Murray began the popular myth of the origin of hundred-cells (or, as they are sometimes called, "Polish" drafts), referring to a book by French checkers player Michel Manoury. According to his version, hundred-cell drafts were invented in 1723 by an unknown officer, nicknamed the Pole (Polonese), who was in the service of the French king Philip II.

The story, of course, is entertaining, but there is not a penny of truth in it. First, the book Murray refers to did not exist in nature. Secondly, in Pierre Marin's French-Dutch dictionary Dictionnaire complet François et Hollandois, published in Amsterdam in 1710, the author already gives as an example the question: "Sçavez vous damer à la Polonoise?" / "Kend gy op zyn Pools dammen?" (both are translated: "Do you play Polish checkers?"). This does not shed light on the mystery of the origin of hundred cells, but it becomes clear that they appeared somewhere between France and the Netherlands, and they are hardly related to Poland at all. Perhaps in 1723 some Polish officer played similar checkers in Paris, but 10-15 years before that they were already being cut with might and main in Holland and France.
It is more likely that hundred squares are based on the rules of old Frisian checkers, which were also played on a 10x10 board. It was a complex system with a lot of refinements and limitations for serial capture and a slow King. It is possible that it was in Frisian drafts that the long-range, “flying” king first appeared, otherwise the game could drag on indefinitely on such a large board. Was such a queen borrowed from Turkish and Armenian drafts or vice versa, or did it happen at the same time, and whether it was so at all, I will not dare to say.

Be that as it may, the innovations enriched the game and it quickly spread to many countries (especially France, Belgium and Holland). Hundred squares are based on rules similar to Russian and Spanish checkers, with taking back and a “flying” king. It must be said that the absence of discrepancies in the rules and the wide tactical possibilities of the one-hundred-cell board made it possible for drafts players from different countries to compete in skill without disputes and preliminary agreements, and soon hundred-cell checkers were approved as an international sports discipline.

* In international drafts, a board of 10x10 cells is used. It is oriented according to the chess type, the white field is to the right of the player. There are 17 diagonals on the board. The longest, consisting of 10 black squares and connecting the two corners of the board, as in ordinary checkers, is called the "highway" or the big road. However, the notation in International Drafts is completely digital, as in the checker. Interestingly, despite the increased field, the distance between the "detachments" remained the same - in two lines.

* Chips in the game 20+20. The initial arrangement of the mosaic type is on the black fields of the first four horizontals on each side.

* A simple chip only moves forward one cell, cuts forward and backward.

* The transformation into a king occurs on the last line. The “flying” king cuts into any number of fields in all four directions.

* A series of captures the player must complete, however, when choosing from two or more capture options, he must choose the one in which he will cut down the maximum number of opponent's checkers, regardless of their quality (both a simple chip and a king in this sense are no different). If there is a choice - to beat with a king or a simple chip, you can chop any of them, observing in this case the rule of taking the largest number of checkers.

* If a piece became a king during a series of captures and can attack further as a simple checker, then it continues the fight with this move and remains simple. Otherwise, she turns into a queen and stops. According to the rules of the queen, she acquires the right to fight only from the next move.

* "Turkish strike" in international drafts is prohibited. It is forbidden to chop one checker twice, but you can cross an empty field twice. Chopped enemy checkers are removed only after the end of the move.

Since there is more than enough room for maneuvers on a 100-cell board, international drafts has a rather complicated system for determining draws. In particular:

* If the players within 25 moves made moves only with kings, without moving simple checkers and without making captures, a draw is declared.

* If the player at the end of the game has:

a). 3 Kings, 3 Kings and 1 Plain, 1 King and 2 Plains, 3 Plains, 2 Kings, and 1 King and 1 Plain against a lone King;

b). 1 queen against a single queen or a single simple;

The player in all these cases is obliged to win by the 5th move, otherwise a draw is declared.

* If the same position is repeated three (or more) times (i.e. the same arrangement of checkers), moreover, the turn of the move each time is for the same side - a draw is also declared.

* If there are 5 kings (or 4 kings and 1 simple checker) on the board against 2 queens, the strongest side must win in 50 moves, otherwise a draw is declared.

For the first time, the world checkers crown was played in 1894, and these were precisely hundred-cell drafts. Frenchman Isidore Weiss became the champion. In 1947, the World Drafts Federation (FMJD) was created, which united the federations of different states, in 1948 the first Olympic tournament was held.

In the USSR, international checkers were most developed in the mid-1930s. This is a great merit of the international master Vladimir Sergeevich Gilyarov. The authorities of the USSR for a long time stubbornly refused to recognize hundred-cell checkers, developing and cultivating an exclusively Russian system. Since 1954, various tournaments, championships of the republics and the country began to be held in the USSR.
With the death of Stalin, the iron curtain slowly began to open. In 1954, the first Soviet tournament in hundred-cell checkers was held, in which I.I. Kuperman from Kiev won.

Iser Cooperman (1922-2006) was an amazing player. A multiple champion of the USSR in Russian drafts, since 1958 he became the world champion in international drafts six times (according to another version - seven), and after leaving the USSR he reached great heights in Brazilian drafts. The name of this legendary grandmaster was vilely hushed up by the Soviet system due to his emigration to Israel - in the Soviet checkers books of the 80s, a lot of minor people are listed in detail, some famous amateurs, like Kobzon, but Kuperman is not mentioned even once.

Although the hundred-cell strategy is broader and more complex, many of the principles of Russian drafts apply to it, and when the borders opened, Soviet drafts players took the lead in the first year. Such players as the aforementioned I. Kuperman, N. Sretensky, M. Korkhov, I. Timkovsky, M. Shavel, D. Shebedev, B. Blinder, A. Andreiko, V. Shchegolev, V. Gabrielyan, A. Gantvarg, V. .Virny and others glorified the Soviet drafts school. Women did not lag behind them: the names of E. Mikhailovskaya, L. Sokhnenko, E. Altshul, O. Levina were then known to the whole drafts world. From 1958 to 1972, Soviet athletes reigned supreme in checkers, then, alas, they were again pressed by Canadian, Dutch and Senegalese grandmasters.
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MONTREAL (QUEBEC) CHECKERS

Canadian drafts - a variant on the board 12x12 according to the rules of international drafts. In Canada they are the national sport. There is a tragicomic legend about their appearance, as if a certain traveler visited Europe, where he was very impressed by the Polish drafts that had become fashionable. He tried to explain the rules to his friends, but could not remember the exact number of cells on the board and drew a 12x12 board. The result was a variant that today is called "Montreal" or "Quebec" drafts. The game is distributed mainly in the French-speaking regions of Canada - Quebec, Ontario, as well as in New England in the USA. Similar versions of the game of checkers exist in Sri Lanka, as well as in the Republic of Ghana and the Dominican Republic.

* Board 144 cells (12x12). There are 30+30 chips in the game (there is a variant 24+24). Traditionally, reds play against whites. The initial arrangement of the mosaic type is on the black fields of the first five horizontals, on each side. The rest of the rules are identical to the international 100-cell draughts.

It must be said that the Canadian Marcel Deslauriers was the first to break the hegemony of the French and Dutch in hundred-cell checkers. Accustomed in his homeland to the most difficult combinations of Montreal drafts, in 1956 he became the first non-European world champion.
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80-cell drafts is an intermediate option between Russian and international drafts. They were created by the honorary master of sports, a great lover of Russian and hundred-cell checkers, Kharkiv resident Nikolai Petrovich Spantsireti (1916-1991) Candidate of Technical Sciences, author of many inventions, he was constantly looking for new ways in checkers. “Thinking about how to keep the charm and appeal of Russian drafts and at the same time increase the effectiveness of the game,- Spantsireti said, - I came up with the idea of ​​transferring Russian checkers to an 80-cell board". On his initiative, championships were held in a number of cities, republics, and countries. The initiative of the enthusiast was also supported by drafts composers. Ending and problem writing contests confirmed that this game seemed to have a future, but the game was not widely used. Never industrially produced.

* Board 80 cells (10x8). Chips in the game 15+15. The initial arrangement of the mosaic type is on the black fields of the first three horizontals on each side. The rest of the rules are similar to Russian drafts. The main feature of 80-cell drafts is that there is no "big" on a rectangular board, and three kings in the endgame successfully catch one, that is, this draw option, which is so common in Russian and international drafts, is excluded.

Today, checkers as entertainment, relaxation and gymnastics for the mind are much less popular than other games - cards (preference, poker), dominoes, chess and even backgammon, and as a sports discipline they are not very quoted. You’ll have to do a lot of running and googling on the Web if you want to buy a set of 100-cell checkers, and even simple 64-cell sets are now made in China, mostly of disgusting quality - crooked checkers, skewed boards with floating markings ... There are no up-to-date books on Russian and checkers (which is surprising, given how much chess literature is printed in our country), even the classic works of Lisenko, Mirotin, Kuperman, Khatskevich, Gorodetsky are not reprinted.

There is no educational literature for children, and even a simple problem book cannot be found (the only exception is the books of V.K. Pogribny), the last resort is the magazine "64" and several sites on the Internet. Checkers Russia seemed to have collapsed back to pre-revolutionary times, when the disdainful attitude of aristocrats and intelligentsia to the folk game and the lack of literature prevented its spread. All this led to the fact that people again began to treat checkers as an empty and lightweight game, entertainment for kids. These troubles were aggravated by persistent rumors that the drafts, de, have long been “calculated”, therefore it makes no sense to devote oneself to work that the machine will do better anyway. This is doubly insulting also because it does not correspond to the truth.

In recent decades, the increased power of computing technology has really allowed a machine to surpass a person even in chess, and the usual 64-cell checkers can still be completely calculated. Checkers were given to the computer easier, because in them all the chips are the same (kings appear only at the end of the game). The combinatorial complexity of checkers is much lower than the chess one, and the machine can beat the masters by a simple enumeration of options. Professor Jonathan Schaeffer, chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Alberta, declared that checkers “is no longer a mystery to mankind”: the Chinook program, created by his GAMES research group, proved that this game always ends in a draw with the right tactics. Such high-profile statements should always be checked (which I did).

Naturally, everything turned out to be not so fatal. No matter how much cyberneticists shout about their victories, the rumors about checkers' "death" are greatly exaggerated. "Chinook" calculated the algorithm for ENGLISH checkers checkers, that is, the simplest system. In addition, being a win-win, this algorithm is by no means optimal. If you decide without hesitation to play a game with a checkers grandmaster, you will be in for an amazing surprise. It goes without saying that you will lose (not only will you lose, but you will be defeated). Another issue is that you will be crushed beautifully. Advanced checkers thought today is moving not in the direction of victory, but rather, tactical beauty, high artistry and virtuoso composition, which are inaccessible to machines. Until the latter become truly alive, intelligent, they cannot understand and know the charm of a logical game, just as they cannot know the magic of music and painting, although there are only seven notes (and colors). So, play to your health and let no car be an obstacle to you.

It should be said that the great Marion Tinsley - an outstanding checkers player, doctor of mathematics and pastor of the Baptist church, who was the world champion in checkers for over 40 years, left undefeated. He owns many wonderful sayings. Here is some of them:

"The Chinook is programmed by Jonathan, and I am programmed by God."

"In order to win, I only moved the right checker to the right field."

"Chess is like looking at an endless ocean, checkers is like looking into an abyss."

For a long time, the FMJD developed only international, hundred-cell draughts. It seems that the world community is so afraid of everything Russian that it is ready to cultivate even the games of penguins from Antarctica, as long as they are not from Russia.

However, you can’t argue against the truth: Russian drafts is such a beautiful and powerful system that the International Drafts Federation, under public pressure, had to give in and organize Section-64, although here the organizers made a compromise: the world championships are held in two versions - in one year in Russian checkers, in the other - in Brazilian. The latter are very similar to Russians: they are played according to the rules of international drafts, but on a 64-cell board.

Not only that, modern checkers are gradually turning into a “battle of servers”. Recently, there has been a serious split in the system of holding championships. Competitions in Russian drafts are held in two versions - classic Russian drafts and tournaments with a "selective draw". The second option assumes the presence of an officially approved list ... of the initial 2-3 moves. Before the game, the opponents determine the number of the opening by lot (in other words, in a sense, the times of medieval tabiyah have returned). Also, a variant arose when one checker of each side at the beginning of the game occupies some other position (the so-called "flying" checkers). This variant was developed in order to "revive" the game and avoid the supposed "draw death" of Russian checkers when the theoretical developments reached a critical threshold, however, such a system has already managed to gain a lot of opponents. How it will all end is not yet clear.

I know many examples when even serious, powerful players suddenly and for a long time (even forever) lost interest in chess, but people who “get sick” with checkers do not leave them all their lives. Probably, the ingenious simplicity of this game, beauty and seeming frivolity allow you to exercise the mind anywhere and does not take much time. I must admit that despite my passion for the history and theory of board games, I myself am not a strong player and I play more for pleasure than for results, therefore I do not like to participate in official competitions. I like various games such as racing, I reconstruct the rules of old games, I know Go quite well, I like to spend the evening playing mahjong, but I am a bad chess and checkers player. However, I like checkers, but I am rather indifferent to chess.

Do you think the history of checkers ends here? You really think so! The history of checkers is reminiscent of the biblical one (remember? - Adam gave birth to Cain and Abel, etc.). So it is here: sija gave birth to petteya, petteya gave birth to latrunculi and hnefatafl, hnefatafl gave birth to “fox and geese” ... In general, you understood me. The waters of the backwater don't stop the flow of the river, a game that's come so far just can't stand still. Checkers is still very young, and most importantly, they are developing. There are quite a lot of the latest checkers (and chess) games, but this will be discussed in the next chapter, and let it be said by the classic: “No one can grasp the immensity”, I will still try.

Pnin P. Checkers game.

In terms of popularity, only checkers can argue with chess. Unlike the "queen of board games", whose birthplace is India, the history and place of origin of checkers is still unknown. Apparently, this game originated among various peoples, approximately like the Boyle-Mariotte law, completely independently of each other.

According to one of the legends, checkers (and bones) were invented by the ancient Greek warrior Palamedes, who participated in the siege of Troy, so that the Achaean army would not decompose from idleness, and the soldiers would not get bored while the impregnable walls of Ilion were guarded by “shiny helmet Hector”. There is a legend that checkers were invented by the inhabitants of Lydia (now the territory of Turkey). By the way, the famous Troy was located in this region. The last king of this Asia Minor power was the famous Croesus. Until now, in different European languages ​​​​there is an expression "rich as Croesus." But the inhabitants of Lydia suffered from hunger in lean years and did not come up with “food for the mind” not from a good life.

It is well known that checkers are very different. Russian checkers are played on a 64-cell board, just like chess. International checkers are represented by a 100-square board. If there are a dozen chips in Russian checkers, then there are already two dozen of them in international checkers. The so-called "Russian checkers" appeared, however, in France in the XII century. Troubadours played them, thinking about their beautiful ladies. The game appeared as a hybrid of chess and the ancient Moorish game alkerk (in Arabic - al-kikrat). Alkerk differed from chess-like checkers in that the pieces occupied not squares, but intersections of lines, as in many games common in the Far East.

Alkerk is first mentioned in a Moorish book of the 10th century. By the way, in North African Mauritania itself, they already played a board game with 12 checkers on each side, and there was a rule to take someone else's chip by jumping over it. That's just played in a similar game before. In an ancient Egyptian temple, an alkerk board immured into the roof was found!

There was a time when the Catholic Church banned in Europe not only gambling (cards and dice), but even chess. However, this ban did not apply to checkers, and as you know, everything that is not prohibited is allowed. Europeans are headlong into this game. Checkers games are divided into positional, to create a winning combination on the board, and those where the opponent's checkers need to be "eaten". Few people know about checkers games that do not belong to any of the named varieties.

Dyzym ("Dyuzdyum", or "Dyuz-Dum") in Turkmen means "to string". In some European countries, this game is known as "windmill". The smoke board is three concentric squares connected by eight diagonal and transverse lines. Each of the players has a predetermined number (from eight to 12) of checkers or pebbles of a certain color.

The game is divided into three stages. First, the opponents take turns placing their chips at the intersections of the lines. If someone manages to put three of his checkers in a row, he has the right to remove one of his opponent's checkers. Then, when all the checkers are exposed, the players can also alternately move them one field along the lines with the same goal - to line up three of their checkers in a row and "remove" the opponent's checker. If one move manages to create two combinations of three checkers, then you can remove two of the opponent's checkers at once.

You can also make a move by jumping over your own or someone else's checker. At the last stage, when one of the players has only three chips left, he gets the right to put his checker on any free place during his move. The game continues until one of the opponents has only two checkers left - then he lost.

In Nepal, the popular game baghachal is practiced, the name of which can be translated as "tiger, go!". It is often referred to as "tigers and goats". According to one version, the game originated in Tibet. This is supported by the fact that it is customary to play with chips made of bronze or brass, and not from wood rare in Tibet. The board is lined with 16 squares, on which there are four figures of tigers and 20 - goats.

The figures are located at the intersection of lines, and not in cells. One player moves the predators, which are located in the corners of the field before the start of the game, and all the goats are still out of the game. To win, the tigers need to "eat" five or seven goats (other options are also allowed), while the goats must create such a position on the board when none of the tigers will have the opportunity to make a move. Both tigers and goats can move one step along the lines of the board, but tigers, when capturing a goat, can "jump" over it, as in regular checkers.

The players take turns. First, the goat player places his pieces on any unoccupied squares. When all 20 goats are placed on the playing field, they get the right to walk. Some goat masters may not lose even if the tigers have eaten seven pieces. Therefore, it is wiser to play up to five eaten goats. Otherwise, the game may drag on for a long time.

The game, widespread in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, is called keny in Ossetian. In Armenia - tama, among the Kurds - tame. Sometimes they use the name "Caucasian checkers". Kens are played on a board of eight by eight squares. They are one-color, in the Caucasus, as a rule, are decorated with arabesques. You can use the usual 64-cell chessboard and 16 checkers-kens in white or black. Kens stand on the second and third horizontal. Any ken can move forward, left and right. It is mandatory to take someone else's ken. You can take it by jumping over it or a few kens.

Agree, this is very similar to the checkers we are used to. You can also hit back, but unlike checkers, here you can jump over your ken if there is a free cell behind it, or through several kens in sequence. A queen is a ken that has reached the opponent's first line. He is called "pepper" and he, like a king in checkers, walks in all directions to any number of cells. There is another significant difference when playing kens: if not a single ken of the opponent has been taken in ten moves, then the game is considered a draw.

Despite the great variety of checkers and their "close relatives" in the world, the "progenitor" of all these games has not yet been found. So it would be more logical to recognize this interesting game as the property of all mankind.

Checkers is one of the most ancient games. It is known that the Egyptian pharaohs were fond of them. The ancient Egyptians believed that the god of wisdom Thoth invented checkers, and the ancient Greeks attributed the creation of this game to the messenger of the gods Hermes, the patron saint of thieves and merchants.

The popularity of checkers in Russia is evidenced by the finds of archaeologists. So, in layers dating back to the 10th century, checkers made of stone, amber and clay were found. It is believed that this game was brought to Kievan Rus by the Vikings, since similar checkers belonging to that era have been found in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. In medieval Europe, the ability to play checkers was considered one of the knightly virtues.

During the time of Peter the Great, special attention was paid to the game of checkers and chess. At the assemblies established by the emperor, a special room was allocated for the players.

The first article about checkers in Russia was written in 1803 by N.M. Karamzin. Among Russian poets and writers, they were fond of checkers: G.R. Derzhavin, A.S. Pushkin, L.N. Tolstoy. Napoleon Bonaparte preferred checkers to chess, drawing on the strategy of combat in this game, it is known that he never parted from his mother-of-pearl checkerboard.

The history of checkers, like many other games, goes back to ancient times. A game similar to checkers (Alkerk) was common in ancient Egypt and the first mention of it dates back to 1600 BC. The naked eye can see the similarity of the game of chess and checkers - this is evidenced by the checkered boards, and the division into "white" and "black" pieces, and the sequence of moves, and many other elements of both games. And these coincidences are not at all accidental - the game of checkers in its modern form appeared thanks to the French, who, around the 12th century, crossed the Egyptian Alkerk with the game of chess.

The method of moving checkers across the field (diagonally) is taken from the rules for moving the queen (queen) in chess. It was this fact that at one time was the reason that checkers in some parts of England are still called "draughts" - a word denoting the move of the queen in chess.

The modern name of the game "checkers" (checkers) came from the word for a chessboard - "checkered" - which means "checkered". Pilgrims who sailed to North America from those areas of England where it was customary to call the game of checkers in a modern way, caused the spread of the word "checkers" in all English-speaking countries.

Harold James Ruthven Murray, who studied the history of chess and checkers, came to the conclusion that checkers spread around the world very slowly - much more slowly than other board games. He found only a few references to this game in the period of the 12th-16th centuries. Everything suggests that the game during this period was distributed only in England, France and, possibly, Spain (there are references to the work of the first manual on drafts by A. Torquemada, published in Spain in 1547, but not preserved to this day ).

No information was found about the bans on the game of checkers by the church. Although at that time the church banned many old and new games, including gambling (cards, dice) and chess.

Research by Harold Murray suggests that something happened to checkers in the 16th century and the game began to gain popularity and spread throughout Europe.

Around 1535, a condition was added to the rules of checkers: if the opponent's checker can be beaten, then the player must do it. This rule of the game is still in use today.

The first World Drafts Championship was held in 1847 and was won by the representative of Scotland, Andrew Anderson, who won against compatriot James Wyllie. The game was played in the style of "go as you like." Further, tournaments were held constantly and representatives of not only Scotland, but also other countries - England, the USA, etc. became the winners.

Playing checkers in the style of "move as you like", in most cases used by beginners and leads to draws. In order to reduce the number of games played in checkers in a draw, in 1890 a two-way ban was introduced into the rules of the game - the first 2 moves were chosen randomly. Later, in 1934, a three-way ban rule was introduced, in which the first 3 moves were chosen randomly, but already from the list of valid combinations.

From the history of checkers. From games of pharaohs to hundred-cell checkers. Games similar to modern checkers (i.e. identical pieces on boards with grids of intersecting lines) have been known since ancient times. So, during excavations in Egypt, an ancient “checkerboard” board with chips similar to each other and several images depicting players during the game were discovered. The “Egyptian checkers” (as the experts called this game) were played both by ordinary people and the nobility - up to the pharaohs. And sometimes, in the absence of a board, the game was played right on the ground, where the grid was drawn by hand.

Their "checkers" were in ancient Greece, Lydia, Phrygia and other places. Extremely common in ancient Rome, the game "latrunculi" (from "latro" - literally warrior, hired soldier) is one of the direct predecessors of European checkers. Mentions of such games can be found in world folklore, literary works and works of scientists (including Homer's Odyssey, the writings of Herodotus and Roman authors).

According to one version, checkers as such originated from the Moorish game "alquerque", where 12 pieces were used on each side and there was a rule to capture someone else's piece by "jumping" over it. True, the pieces in alquerque were placed at the intersection of the lines of the playing field, while in checkers they began to be placed on squares - similar to chess pieces. (Specialists have not yet come to a consensus which of these popular games is “primary” in relation to the other: chess to checkers or vice versa? But their relationship is undeniable, which, among other things, is confirmed by some similarities in terminology.)

In medieval Europe, the ability to play checkers was an integral part of knightly education (according to one version, the earlier name of the checkers game “ladies” owes its origin to the cult of a beautiful lady characteristic of the knightly class). Attempts were made to theoretically comprehend the game. A. Torquemada is considered to be the author of the first drafts manual: it was published in Spain in 1547, but has not survived to this day and is known only from references and descriptions in other sources. Approximately one hundred years later, similar books appear in France, and then in other European countries.

Checkers are gaining more and more popularity in different countries. In the 19th century national drafts championships began to be held (including in Russia). Due to the lack of unified rules of the game, it was not possible to organize international checkers competitions for a long time. Finally, a “compromise” was found in the form of 100-cell checkers (there are several beautiful legends about the origin of this game, while historical sources only indicate that it was probably known in France as early as the beginning of the 18th century - this period is considered to be the time the birth of French - later international - checkers).

In con. 19 - the first third of the 20 centuries. unofficial world championships in 100-cell draughts were held. They were won mainly by the founders of the game - the French (I.Weiss, S.Biso, M.Fabre, M.Reichenbach, P.Gestem), in 1910-1930 the Dutch G.Hoobland and B.Springer also won the world title.

World Drafts Federation (FMJD). Founded in September 1947. In the same year, the Federation established the title of International Grandmaster (assigned in different types of drafts).

And already in 1948, the first ever official world championship in checkers (international) was held, the winner of which was P. Roozenburg (Netherlands), after which he repeated his success three more times. With the entry into the international arena in the mid-1950s of our athletes, the main struggle for the title of the strongest drafts player in the world, as a rule, is between representatives of the USSR (Russia) and the Netherlands, recognized as "draughts powers". (There has been a massive interest in drafts in Holland for a long time. It is considered a center for the development of hundred cells. There are about 400 professional drafts clubs in the country. All this ensures a high overall level, which in team matches with Russians largely compensates the Dutch for the current lack of extra masters. -class.)

In con. 1950 - ser. In the 1970s, I. Kuperman (USSR) became the world champion seven times. The Soviet checkers player A. Andreiko was recognized as the best three times. Three times the best was recognized by another Soviet drafts player - A. Andreiko. Then came the era of H. Wiersma, a Dutch master who won the champion title 6 times. A. Gantvarg (USSR) was the champion four times. But most of all at the world championships, the Russian A. Chizhov succeeded, in the period from 1988 to 2000 he won 9 titles. Several more drafts players in different years won the title of champion once (M. Delaurier - Canada, B. C - Senegal, J. van der Val - the Netherlands, G. Valneris - Latvia, A. Shvartsman - Russia) and twice (V. Shchegolev and A. Dybman both of the USSR, T. Seybrands - the Netherlands).

The Russian A. Georgiev twice (in 2002–2003) achieved success and has every chance to improve his achievement. The holder of the highest title is determined in a round-robin tournament, then he defends his title in a match with the winner of either the next world championship or the Candidates Tournament.

From the beginning In the 1970s, the world championship among juniors was played (N. Mishchansky became the first winner), international women's tournaments were held. Among drafts players there is no equal Z. Sadovskaya (maiden name Golubeva), who previously represented Belarus, then Latvia - 11 victories at the world championships. E. Mikhailovskaya (1973–1977) and E. Altshul (1980–1985) each had 5 titles, she was the champion of O. Levin three times (1987–1993). In 1979, L. Ilyina (Sokhnenko) became the strongest. In 2001-2002, the champion was Russian T. Tansykkuzhina, in 2003 she lost the title to O. Kamyshleeva, representing the Netherlands.

The FMJD also holds team championships, drafts Olympiads and other competitions (including championships in blitz and rapid drafts, as well as in absentia). The ratings of drafts players compiled by the FMJD are updated twice a year (in January and July).

World championships in draughts-64 (Russian and Brazilian versions) are held. In 1985, A. Kandaurov became the first world champion in draughts-64 (according to the rules of international draughts), and A. Shvartsman won this title more often than others (5). Since the beginning of the 1990s, world championships in Russian drafts have also been held, the first winner was the Russian M. Amrilloev. (The International Association of Russian Drafts (MARSh) operating in Russia plays its own world championships: Y. Korolev became the first champion among men according to the MARSH version, E. Bushueva became the first champion among women, - holding such competitions caused a conflict with the FMJD and the subsequent exclusion of the Drafts Federation from it Russia). Section-64 (checkers) also operates in the International Federation.

The headquarters of the FMJD is located in the Netherlands. It now includes national federations of 50 countries in Asia, Africa, America and Europe. The Federation is a member of the GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations), is working to recognize checkers as an Olympic sport.

Another international organization is the European Drafts Confederation (EDC). Since 1965, it has been holding the European Championship (originally the European Cup), playing the Confederation Cup, the Champions Cup in international drafts, holding competitions among youth, women and veterans.

Continental checkers competitions are also held in America, Africa and Asia.

O.BULANOVA

A person is so arranged that he loves to play very much - even after leaving childhood. Of course games change with age. Now we have slot machines, and various versions of online games on the Internet, and game consoles, and casinos (also a kind of game) at our service. In addition, we actively play board games - cards, dominoes, chess and checkers.

And if the history of cards or chess attracts many, then the simple - at first glance - checkers game remains somehow outside the field of our interest. But in vain: this game perfectly develops the mental abilities of a person, logical thinking, raises the cultural level, it is very interesting and has an incredibly fascinating history dating back to ancient times.

Let's start with the history of the word. The modern Russian name of the game "checkers" (checkers) came from the word for a chessboard - checkered - which means "checkered".

Pilgrims who sailed to North America from those areas of England where it was customary to call the game of checkers in a modern way, caused the spread of the word “checkers” in all English-speaking countries.

By the way, about distribution. Harold James Ruthven Murray, who studied the history of chess and checkers, came to the conclusion that checkers spread around the world very slowly, much more slowly than other board games.

He found only a few references to this game in the period from the 12th to the 16th century. Everything suggests that the game during this period was distributed only in England, France and, possibly, Spain.

At the same time, not a single mention was found of the prohibition of playing checkers by the church. Although at that time the church banned many old and new games, including gambling (cards, dice) and - surprisingly! - chess.

In general, many scientists and historians showed interest in checkers, and we can trace this in historical studies of different times. These studies have shown that the history of checkers is shrouded in many secrets and mysteries.

There are three main versions of the origin of checkers, and all of them deserve close attention. The first version is Egyptian. In ancient Egypt, a game similar to checkers (Alkerk) was common.

The very first mention of it dates back to 1600 BC. this is also evidenced by the paintings on the walls of the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs, belonging to the same period. During excavations in Egypt, they also discovered the tomb of a nobleman who was close to the pharaoh. On the walls of the tomb there were paintings reflecting the three passions of the ancient Egyptian - hunting, fishing and playing checkers.

Oddly enough, but, according to researchers, the rules of that ancient game had much in common with modern checkers. A few centuries before our era, they already played on a 64-cell board.

The checkers were of two colors - white and black, and represented, as it were, two armies that were to fight. Retreat was not provided, so checkers could only move forward.

If a checker broke through to the rear of the enemy, then its combat ability increased and it became a queen. The capture occurred by jumping one checker over another. In the same way, in battle, the victorious warrior steps over the defeated one in order to continue the battle further.

There is another similarity, for example, the sequence of moves. The method of moving checkers across the field (diagonally) is taken from the rules for moving the queen (queen) in chess. It was this fact that at one time was the reason that checkers in some parts of England are still called drafts - a term for the move of the queen in chess.

The Romans called the game "latrunculi" and comes from the word "latro" - "warrior". The Germans, French and other peoples called her differently, but in each of these languages ​​the word “lady” was traced. Future knights were necessarily taught to play checkers - they instilled much-needed warrior skills in the ethics and tactics of knightly duels.

Thus, the ability to play checkers was mandatory in the training of knights of all ranks. They play checkers in Boccaccio's Decameron, they play in Cervantes' Don Quixote.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves, so let's go back in time. Later, checkers “migrated” from Ancient Egypt to Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and from there to Europe, where they acquired their modern form over time.

It would be fair to mention that there are author's versions of modern researchers who question the above-described fact and argue that these exhibits are related to another type of independent games, which, having changed, acquired a completely new form or were completely lost.

If we assume that this version is correct, then the origin of checkers can be attributed to 1600 BC.

The second version is Trojan. This interesting version deserves attention, as it seems quite logical and plausible. Ancient written sources mention the existence of such a person as the warrior Palamedes, who was a participant in the siege of Troy, and it was he who invented checkers, thus serving his entourage in good stead, since it is known that the siege of Troy lasted for ten whole years (!) and such an intellectual game helped the army pass the time with interest and benefit.

By the way, checkers boards were drawn right on the ground, which made the game mobile and independent of location.

If you believe this version, then the origin of checkers can be attributed to the 13-12 centuries BC.

By the way, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato has a curious myth, according to which the game of checkers was invented by the god Hermes. He came up with - and invited the goddess Moon to play checkers with him on the condition that in case of a loss he would receive five days from the Moon. Having won, Hermes added these five days to those 360 ​​days that had previously been a year.

The third version is Aryan-Norman. According to her, checkers (tavlei) came from the north. Scientists have repeatedly found ancient exhibits of checkers in the countries of the Aryan-Norman territory, such as Norway, Denmark, Iceland, as well as on the territory of Kievan Rus.

Moreover, checkers were made from completely different materials: from horn, amber, stone, clay. The finds date back to the Viking Age, i.e. to the tenth century. If we talk about this version, then it is the youngest of the three and belongs to the III century AD.

There is also a Slavic (Scythian) version of the origin of checkers, which stands apart, as it were. This version, based on archaeological excavations and discoveries, was put forward by Yevgeny Kadnikov (“Checkered Arabesques”, 1997).

In Russia, the appearance of checkers is associated with the name of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh (1053-1125). However, archaeological excavations have shown that as early as the 3rd-4th centuries AD. Russia has already played checkers.

It is possible that the Vikings brought this game to Kievan Rus, since all the finds of checkers fall either on the route of the great route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, or in settlements near large cities where Russians and hired princely squads lived.

It is worth mentioning that in many epics and legends checkers are mentioned as one of the revered and favorite games of Russian heroes.

By the way, Peter I strongly encouraged the game of checkers and chess. At the assemblies he founded, the St. Petersburg dignitary who had the turn to host an assembly had, among other things, to allocate a special room for chess and checkers.

The Church, by the way, did not prohibit checkers in Russia either. Of the famous Russian drafts lovers were Suvorov, Chekhov, Derzhavin, Pushkin, Alexander Grin. L. Tolstoy in "War and Peace" compares the strategy of military art with the strategy of a checkers game.

Both Friedrich Chopin and Napoleon, who preferred them to chess, were fond of checkers, drawing ideas for combat tactics from this game.

If we return to the versions, then, most likely, all three versions are true: the game, one way or another similar to checkers, originated in several regions of our planet at once, and then, spreading, received new features that brought it closer to the form that is familiar us all today.

In general, many historians believe that the game of checkers in its modern form appeared thanks to the French, who around the 12th century AD. crossed the Egyptian Alkerk with the game of chess.

But in the 16th century - according to the research of Harold Murray - something happened to checkers in Europe, and the game began to gain popularity and spread more and more widely.

The first checkers textbooks appeared in Spain and France. The French rules were formed by the 12th century, but were subsequently adjusted in 1535, in 1890 and 1934. In 1535, a condition was added to the rules of checkers: if the opponent's checker can be beaten, then the player must do it.

The first work on drafts appeared in Spanish under the title Juego de las damas (year unknown); then Torquemada wrote about them in 1547 (the work has not survived to this day) and Montero in 1590.

A more extensive literature on the game of checkers is given by the French. The first work in this language was published in 1668 by the mathematician-engineer Madle, under the title Le jeau de damos. It contains 450 different positions.

The game of checkers, once in Europe, has received a lot of varieties and in each state it has its own characteristics: Russian, Polish, Turkish, English, giveaway, ticks, etc.

After Manouri's classic treatise in 1770, Baledent's Lo Damier is considered the best work on Polish drafts; it contains up to 10,000 diagrams and contains everything that was published on the Polish drafts game before 1886.

The first article in Russia, Karamzin's New Drafts Game, was published in 1803 in Vestnik Evropy. The famous Russian chess player A.D. Petrov was the first to compile a manual on the game of checkers in 1827; then the first chess problems appear.

The first World Drafts Championship was held in 1847 and won by Scottish representative A. Anderson. The game was played without restrictions on opening moves. In order to reduce the number of games played in checkers in a draw, in 1890 a two-move ban was introduced into the rules of the game: the first two moves were chosen at random.

Later, in 1934, the rule of the three-way ban was also introduced, in which the first three moves were chosen randomly, but already from the list of valid combinations.

Under Soviet rule, checkers was actively encouraged - they were not considered a bourgeois game. At the 3rd Chess and Drafts Congress, held in Moscow in 1924, the delegates unanimously spoke about the need to use all resources for a general cultural upsurge in the country, about the cultural value of chess and checkers: “in every reading room, in every factory club nearby there should be chess and checkers with the newspaper.”

And it's very good that they didn't ban it. Otherwise, they might not survive to this day.