Sister Games?

To the non-player or follower of either game, chess and checkers (draughts) are often considered pastimes that share much.  After all, the board looks the same; the initial array of pieces on the first two ranks for each player carries resemblance; only two players participate, moving alternately; and both games require study as well as thought.

However, the two games actually differ in many more respects than they share.  In chess, all 64 squares are available to the pieces; in checkers, only 32 (the dark squares).  The chessplayer decides upon any capture; the draughts player must capture if one is possible.  A great part of the near inexhaustibility of chess lies in the differing functions of many of the pieces; in checkers, all pieces are alike in form and function.  When the far end of the board is reached in chess, only the pawns may promote to other pieces, and there is a wide choice; in checkers any of the uniform pieces may promote, and always to a King.

Any serious tournament chessplayer studies deeply in opening theory and often chooses a debut considered unfriendly to the particular opponent;  the checker Master, in a tournament against similarly skilled rivals, must play the opening drawn by chance, so-called "ballot," since the game, at the highest levels, has for many decades now been "played out" to a draw unless the participants are forced to begin actual competition from positions resulting from known inferior play.

In chess, stalemate is a draw, and hence the popular expansion into metaphor; in checkers such a position results in a loss for the player to move.  In chess, the object of the game is to checkmate the opposing King, and if that is accomplished, any other features of the position--including a possible noteworthy material  and/or positional disadvantage on the part of the winner--do not matter.  In checkers, the object is to take all your opponent's pieces or to run that player out of moves.  In chess, only one piece may be captured on a move; in checkers, multiple captures are possible.

We could go on.  But there is also an irony here. 

Yes, chess is much more different from checkers than many imagine, but it shares a great deal more, in terms of intrinsic value as a game, than is the popular conception.  We commonly see checkers portayed as a rather mindless entertainment for idle kids or a device for mere time-passing involving two aged gentlemen too frail or superannuated for physical sports. This portrait is grossly unfair to a game of pure skill that can be replete with subtle elements of both tactics and positional considerations.

Chess and checkers are not the sister games that most presume--but the noble game of draughts is "weak sister" to precious few serious board games.

Death of Bent Larsen

Several days ago, veteran Grandmaster Bent Larsen left us.  The Dane was the strongest player ever produced by Scandinavia until the recent emergence of Norway's sensational teenage star Magnus Carlsen.  Larsen was among the Best in the West (non-Soviet players) from the late 1950s through the 1970s, winning many international tournaments and more than once coming close to a World Championship match.  His individualistic style and renowned fighting spirit propelled him to many important victories, including over several former, then-current, and future World Chess Champions.  His friendly, easygoing manner made him a favorite among the world's chess elite.  He will be sorely missed.  To paraphrase The Bard, "There is something missing in the state of Denmark."