Checkers Puzzle for 17 September 2026 — Red to move

The idea

A breakthrough brings a man to the far row and crowns it as a king. The new king can move along open diagonals in either direction and capture from a distance, which can change the position substantially. Crowning alone does not guarantee a win: the king may face an immediate capture, or the opponent may have active kings of their own. Look for a clear route to the promotion row, then inspect the reply from the resulting board. On this site crowning ends the turn, including a capture chain. A newly crowned piece cannot continue jumping until a later turn.

Red to move. Red has 6 men on 3, 4, 11, 12, 16 and 25; Black has 6 men on 18, 22, 23, 24, 27 and 28. Both sides have the same number of men and kings. Red has a man in Black's half of the board against 0 coming the other way. Red has 8 legal full turns to compare: 0 capture lines and 8 quiet choices.

Solution: 25-29. Red plays 25-29, crowning on 29. After this combination, Red has 5 men and a king and Black has 6 men. The game continues from this position. One continuation from the search is 24-19 16-20 27-24 20x27 23x32 11-16 19-15 16-20. Moving 25-29 turns one of Red’s six men into a king. It does not capture a defender, so both sides still have six pieces at the end of the solution. The new distribution is five men and a king against six men. This is a useful reminder to distinguish a promotion from a material gain measured only in piece count.

Alternative 25-30: one sample line is 25-30 18-14 30x19. Red crowns on 30. Red's 30x19 removes the man on 23. The board then has 5 men and a king for Red and 5 men for Black. Alternative 16-20: one sample line is 16-20 22x29 3-7. Black's 22x29 removes the man on 25. The board then has 5 men for Red and 6 men for Black. Compare these sample lines with the solution and check other legal replies before judging the resulting position.

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