Openings
Checkers openings
There are only seven ways to start a game of checkers, and every one has a name. Here they are, with how the openings that follow get their names, and where to start.
Short answer
Ink, or Black, has seven possible first moves, and each has a name: Old Faithful (11-15), Double Corner (9-14), Kelso (10-15), Bristol (11-16), Dundee (12-16), Denny (10-14), Edinburgh (9-13). Pink’s reply gives the opening its full name, like the Single Corner or the Dyke. 11-15, Old Faithful, is the most trusted, and the best one to learn first.
The seven first moves
At the start, only Ink’s four front men can move, and each has one or two squares to go to. That makes seven first moves:
| Move | Name | What it’s like |
|---|---|---|
| 11-15 | Old Faithful | Ink’s most trusted first move, heading for the centre. The old books and Checky both rate it the best. |
| 9-14 | Double Corner | By most accounts Ink’s second-best first move. The man heads for the centre from the double-corner side. |
| 10-15 | Kelso | Named after the Scottish town whose players made it popular. It’s one of Ink’s better first moves. |
| 11-16 | Bristol | Ink heads for the side, not the centre. Once rated the second-best first move, it’s still a solid choice. |
| 12-16 | Dundee | One of Ink’s weaker first moves. Pink’s strongest reply is 24-20, which cramps Ink’s side of the board. |
| 10-14 | Denny | One of Ink’s weaker first moves, because it gives Pink several strong replies. It’s still perfectly playable. |
| 9-13 | Edinburgh | By most accounts Ink’s weakest first move, though it’s popular with people learning the game. |
Each name links to a guide with every sound reply, the line Checky teaches for it, and its traps.
How openings get their names
An opening’s name belongs to a few moves at the start of the game. Ink’s first move has one, Pink’s reply often adds another, and some names only arrive several moves in. Checky knows 115 of them. Many were given by Scottish and English players in the 1800s, and they come from all sorts of places:
- Places. The Kelso, Dundee, Edinburgh, Paisley and Glasgow share their names with Scottish towns and cities. Named after the Scottish town whose players made it popular. It’s one of Ink’s better first moves.
- People. Pink heads for the side of the board. James Wyllie named this one after a young woman who loved to play it. Named after a Laird and Lady Cather.
- Battles. The Alma is named after a Crimean War battle, and the Wagram after one of Napoleon’s.
- The shape of the moves. Pink steps across the path of Ink’s man on 15, which gives it its name. Ink’s main answer is 8-11.
Some names stick for the strangest reasons. Once called Wyllie’s Invincible, until it proved Pink’s weakest reply and got a humbler name.
A famous road: Old Faithful into the Orthodox
The most-studied path starts with 11-15 and 23-19, the Orthodox. After 8-11 22-17 it reaches the City Game: A great crossroads. Four classic roads start here: the Glasgow, Laird and Lady, Old Fourteenth and Alma.
Why tournaments pick the opening at random
Strong players know the safest openings so well that their games kept ending in draws. So since the 1930s, America’s main tournaments have drawn the first three moves at random from an approved list, and each pair of players plays that opening twice, swapping sides. That’s why tournament players need to know far more than one opening.
A few openings were barred from that list because one side simply loses. The most famous barred opening. Willie Ryan showed it loses for Ink, and it was voted out in 1937. Another, the Barred Dundee, is a trap for Pink: 23-19 walks into a forced jump. The program Chinook confirmed in 2007 that Pink is lost.
Which opening should you learn first?
Start with Old Faithful, 11-15. It’s Ink’s most trusted first move, it heads for the centre, and most of the famous openings grow out of it. Learn the main line against each of Pink’s replies, then the branches.
When you play Pink, you don’t get to choose: you have to answer whatever Ink plays. So learn one good reply to each of Ink’s seven first moves.
And whichever you play, learn where it goes wrong. Most opening disasters come from a natural-looking move that lets your opponent jump two men. Here are the traps to know.
Questions people ask
What is the best opening move in checkers?
11-15, called Old Faithful. Both the old books and Checky’s engine rate it the best first move for Ink.
How many openings are there in checkers?
Ink has seven possible first moves, and Pink has up to seven replies to each. Beyond that the number grows fast. Checky knows 115 named openings.
What is the Single Corner opening?
An early swap of one man each. Few openings have more written about them. It’s 11-15 22-18 15x22 25x18.
What is the three-move restriction?
A tournament rule where the first three moves of a game are drawn at random from an approved list, so that strong players can’t stick to the safest openings.
Who moves first in checkers?
The dark side: Black in the official rules, Ink on Checky.
