You are all, doubtless, acquainted with the form of the draught-board and men; with the fact that the game is played by two persons on a board of sixty-four squares, with twenty-four men, twelve of one colour and twelve of another. At starting, the men occupy the three rows of squares on opposite sides of the board. The men may be placed on either colour, but for convenience of notation it is usual to select the white squares. The moves of all the men are alike—diagonal from square to square, in an upward direction from the player. They take by passing over the captured man into a vacant square beyond. One, two, or more men can be taken by the same move, always providing that there is a vacant square to pass into at each jump. When a man has arrived at either of the four squares on the opposite side of the board he is crowned, and becomes a King. The crowning is a simple ceremony—merely placing one draughtman, of the same colour, on the top of the other. The kings have the power of moving forward and backward, one square at a time, diagonally. The object of the game is to capture all your opponent’s men, or so to block them in that they cannot move. The player who first accomplishes one of these ends wins the game.

One or two rules are absolute. The offered man must be taken, when the player says ‘Take,’ and a man touched must, if it can, be moved.

In placing the board for the game, the double corners must be at the right-hand of the player, which brings us at once to the

NOTATION OF DRAUGHTS

—the method by which the moves of a game or problem are recorded. It is not necessary to show a diagram of the Numbered Board if you remember the order of the figures. The first white square on the left hand, uppermost, is 1, and the rest go from left to right, horizontally, till we arrive at the last white square on the right, 32. In recording the moves of a game we say 11 to 15, 24 to 19, and so on. A very little practice will make you sufficiently familiar with this easy system of notation, and soon enable you to play a game by memory without the board.

To show you the nature of a Problem, and the way to record its solution, I will append a diagram.

White to play and win in eight moves.

The difficulty here is the first move. That discovered, all the others follow as a matter of course. This is the solution:—

White. Black.
10to612to9
18to1429to18
15to22313to17
22to13429to25
13to17525to30
17to22630to25
22to2974to8
11to48