What Can Checkers Teach Us About Chess?

Even though chess and checkers have the same checkered board, these two games are completely different.

Chess is much more complex and therefore it is chess, not checkers, that is frequently used in commercials to underline the depth of a business strategy. Moreover, common praise to a politician goes like this: "He is playing chess, while others are playing checkers."

I even titled one of my old articles "Chess Is Not Checkers!" Nevertheless, we can still learn a very beautiful tactical idea from checkers.

You can watch this concept in the following video (I think it is some local version of checkers):

The old man's idea in this video is quite remarkable: He gave up all his pieces but one to get them back with interest! Probably the best example of this combination in chess is a study by the famous Russian composer Leonid Kubbel.

Yes, it is a knight that delivers "the checkers combination."

This tactical idea is not as uncommon as you might think. The world champion Tigran Petrosian even produced the following twin examples.

I am sure you'll be able to find White's combination.

This neat trick is the main point of one opening variation:

Can you find a similar trick in the next position?

You see, if you know the pattern, it is not that difficult. The next game from a world-championship match shows that even the best players in chess history are still human. How could a tactical genius Alexander Alekhine miss it twice in one game?

I hope you will now see this combination even in blitz games. The Russian grandmaster Kateryna Lagno didn't miss her chance in the recent World Blitz Championship:

As you can see, we can learn something about chess from checkers!