Checkers Solver & Next Move Calculator

Set up any position and see the best move · Updated August 26, 2026

Build the position you are stuck in, or play the moves through, and let the engine answer. This checkers move calculator works out the next move to play, who stands better, and how it expects the game to go. Every position gets its own link.

How to use it — three steps

1. Set up the position you care about

   Press Set up position. Pick a piece from the row that appears — red man, red king, black man, black king, or the eraser — and click the dark squares. Clicking a square that is already occupied replaces what is there.

   

2. Say whose turn it is

   Under the board is a button reading Red to move. Click it to switch to black. This matters more than it looks: the same position is a win for one side and a loss for the other depending on who is on move.

3. Press Analyse — and read all three lines

   The button reads Thinking… for a few seconds while the engine searches, then the answer appears below the board.

   

Rather play the moves through?

Leave it in Play moves, the mode it opens in. Click one of your pieces and the legal destinations light up; captures are compulsory, so if a jump exists it is the only thing offered. Take back steps as far back as you like, and you can analyse after any move.

That highlighting is a checkers move generator in its own right: the board works out every legal move for the piece you picked and offers nothing else, which is why a position you reach by playing is always one that could really have arisen. It is the same rule code the engine searches with and the same code that validates moves in the online games.

Sharing a position

Every position is written into the address bar as you build it, so copying the URL out of the browser is enough — there is also a Copy link button. Whoever opens that link sees exactly the board you were looking at, which is the point: an analysis you cannot pass on is an analysis nobody sees.

Two things the board deliberately refuses: the light squares, which are never used in checkers, and an ordinary man on the row where it would already have been crowned. That position cannot occur in a real game, and analysing an impossible position produces advice about a game nobody can play.

New to any of this? How to play checkers covers the basics and the complete rules settle the finer points. If you would rather train than analyse, the daily puzzle is one position a day with exactly one winning move.

What the answer means

The engine reports three things. The best move is the move it would play next. The assessment says who stands better and roughly by how much — “about a piece up” means what it says, since a man and a king are what the evaluation counts. The expected continuation is how it thinks the next few moves go, and it is often the most useful part: it shows you why the move is good.

That third line is what makes this a move analyzer rather than an oracle. A tool that only named a move would leave you no wiser the next time the same shape appeared on the board; the continuation is the part you can learn from.

Every answer also states how many moves ahead it searched. That number is not decoration. A search that looked ten moves ahead in a sparse endgame is close to conclusive; the same depth in a crowded middlegame is a strong opinion. There is deliberately no decimal evaluation score here — a number like “+1.35” implies a precision this evaluation does not have, and inventing one would be the easiest way to mislead you.

Is checkers solved? Yes — but this is not that

Checkers is a solved game. In 2007 Jonathan Schaeffer's Chinook team at the University of Alberta proved that perfect play by both sides ends in a draw. The proof took roughly eighteen years of computation across a search space of about 5×10²⁰ positions, and it leans on enormous endgame databases holding every position with ten or fewer pieces.

This page is not that. It is an alpha-beta search with a few seconds of thinking time — the same engine that plays on the main board, given time to think properly instead of answering instantly. It will occasionally prefer a move a stronger program would not. Saying so plainly is the point: a tool that states its limits is one you can actually rely on, because you know when to.

With one exception, and the board tells you when it applies. Once a position is down to four pieces or fewer, this page stops searching and looks the answer up in a solved checkers endgame database — 6.4 million positions, each with an exact result and an exact distance to the end. There the answer is not an opinion that more thinking time could improve; it is the answer. That page lets you play the classic endings out move by move, including a two-men-against-two-men win that takes 55.

Questions about the solver

Is there a checkers solver that finds the best move?

Yes — the board on this page. Set up any position or play through the moves, press Analyse, and the engine returns the move it considers best, an assessment of who stands better, and the continuation it expects. It states how many moves ahead it searched, so you can judge how much weight to give the answer.

Is this a checkers move calculator?

It is, with one distinction worth making. "Calculator" suggests looking an answer up, and for most of a game that is not what happens: the engine searches, as deep as the time allows, and tells you how far it got. A deeper search can change its mind, which is why the depth is printed with every answer. There is one part of the game where it really is a lookup. Once a position is down to four pieces or fewer, the board stops searching and reads the result out of a solved endgame database — 6.4 million positions, each with an exact result and an exact distance to the end. There the answer cannot be improved on by thinking longer, and the page says so instead of quoting a depth.

How do I find the next best move in a checkers position?

Set the position up on the board, click the side-to-move button so the engine knows whose turn it is, and press Analyse. It names one move — the one it would play next — and prints the continuation it expects to follow, which is the part that shows you what the move is actually for. If you are working through a whole game rather than a single position, stay in Play moves and analyse after each move; Take back steps as far back as you like.

Is checkers a solved game?

Yes. In 2007 the Chinook team at the University of Alberta proved that checkers played perfectly by both sides is a draw, after roughly 18 years of computation over a search space of about 5×10²⁰ positions. That proof relies on enormous endgame databases. The board on this page is an ordinary search engine with a few seconds of thinking time, which is a very different thing, and it says so with every answer.

How do I set up a position?

Switch to Set up position, pick red man, red king, black man, black king or the eraser, and click the dark squares. Click the side-to-move line to switch whose turn it is. A man cannot be placed on the row where it would already have been crowned, because that position cannot occur in a real game.

Is this a checkers board editor?

Yes. Set up position is a full board editor: place red and black men and kings anywhere on the dark squares, erase what you got wrong, and set whose turn it is. It differs from a plain diagram tool in one way that matters here — it refuses positions that could not occur in a real game, such as a man standing on the row where it would already have been crowned. That restriction exists because this board is wired to an engine: analysing an impossible position would produce advice about a game nobody can play.

Can I share a position with someone?

Every position is written into the address bar as you build it, so copying the URL is enough. There is also a Copy link button. Anyone opening that link sees exactly the position you were looking at.

Which rules does the analysis use?

American checkers, also called English draughts: men move and capture diagonally forward, kings move one square in any diagonal direction, and captures are compulsory. Brazilian, international and Turkish draughts use different rules and are playable on the main board.

Is the best move always right?

It is the best move the engine can see within its time budget, not a proven best move. It searches several moves ahead and reports that number with every answer. In sharp tactical positions it is reliable; in quiet positions where the plan matters more than the tactics, treat it as a strong opinion rather than a verdict.

Is this a cheat tool for online games?

No, and please do not use it as one. Games on the main board are rated, and the person on the other side is waiting for a move they believe is yours. Use this board after the game, on the position you got wrong — or on one you are stuck on with nobody to ask. That is what it is actually good at: the continuation tells you why a move was right, and winning a game you did not play never does.