Checkers Puzzle for 31 October 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 7 men on 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 21 and 28; Black has 5 men on 18, 26, 27, 29 and 30. Red has 2 more men than Black. Red has 2 men in Black's half of the board against 0 coming the other way. Red has 9 legal full turns to compare: 0 capture lines and 9 quiet choices. A capture chain is one turn, even when the piece changes direction. Look at its final landing square before committing to the first jump.

Solution: 28-32. Red plays 28-32, crowning on 32. After this combination, Red has 6 men and a king and Black has 5 men. The game continues from this position. One continuation from the search is 27-24 32x14 24-19 16x23 26x19 8-11 30-26 11-15.

Alternative 21-25: one sample line is 21-25 30x21 28-32. Black's 30x21 removes the man on 25. Red crowns on 32. 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 18-15 10x19. Red's 10x19 removes the man on 15. The board then has 7 men for Red and 4 men for Black. Compare these sample lines with the solution and check other legal replies before judging the resulting position.

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