III
A game at draughts is won when all the pieces of one colour have either been captured, or forced into such a position that their ultimate capture is certain, or where the remaining pieces of one colour are so blocked that the player thereof cannot move any of them when it is his turn to move, and the player, who thus captures or blocks all his opponent’s men, is the winner of the game.
A game at draughts is drawn when an end game results wherein the two forces are so balanced, both in number and position, that neither side can force the capture or blocking of all the pieces of the opposite side.
The following positions are illustrations of the close of games.
White to move and Black to win. (Fig. 1.)
Fig. 1.
In this position White cannot go to 27, or he would lose at once; he therefore plays 31-26, and the game goes on 32-27, 26-22, 27-23, 22-17, 23-18, 17-13, 18-14. White has now no other move than 13-9, whereupon the Black King jumps over it and the game is won. Had White had a King instead of a man he would just as surely have lost.
Black to move and win. (Fig. 2.)
Fig. 2.
In this position the pieces are perfectly equal on both sides, but Black has the advantage in position. He played 1-6, and the game goes on 5-1, 6-9, 14-5, 7-10. Now White has no other move than 1-6, whereupon the Black King jumps over it to 1, and the remaining White man is “blocked” and consequently Black has won.