Hello, just thought i'd see if theres anyone else who likes draughts or international/chinese checkers as myself. I also heard a rumour that checkers can be drawn with perfect play- but research tells me that isnt true on the 8x8 and 10x10 board. I just thought there may be someone else here on the forum who could enlighten me on the topic and its reliability. :)

Checkers has been "weakly" solved, resulting in a draw with perfect play. Because I am nowhere near perfect with checkers or chess I don't spend enough time to know what "weakly solved" means.

Draughts, English (i.e. checkers)This 8x8 variant of draughts was weakly solved on April 29, 2007 by the team of Jonathan Schaeffer, known for Chinook, the "World Man-Machine Checkers Champion". From the standard starting position, both players can guarantee a draw with perfect play.^[5] Checkers is the largest game that has been solved to date, with a search space of 5x10²⁰.^[6] The number of calculations involved was 10¹⁴, and those were done over a period of 18 years. The process involved from 200 desktop computers at its peak down to around 50.^[7]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solved_game

I think maybe because it is solved, that this is why they do this:

"In "Three-Move-Restriction" (the most common form of checkers in tournaments), the first three moves (two for red, and one for white) are chosen at random..."

"Marion Tinsley hasn't met the man or machine that can beat him at his game ... who since 1955 has reigned as the undisputed world checkers champion. ... In London, Chinook, a three-year-old computer program, became the ..."

"Jul 19, 2007 – An invincible checkers-playing program named Chinook has solved a game whose origins date ... They say the computer can never be beaten."

Scientificamerican,com
Checkers Computer Can't Be Beat. It took more than 18 years, but computer scientists have completely solved the game of chess, with a ...

Checkers you must capture.   In Chess, capturing is optional

Checkers, you only promote to a king.  In Chess you promote to anything but a king.

Chess plays on all the squares, checkers only half.

I think there is a few more opposites, but I don't remember what they are.

(Never cared for the game.)