Losing Draughts (Giveaway)
Worldwide
Draughts turned upside down: the first player to lose all their pieces — or run out of moves — wins. Known as 'poddavki' in Russia, it is far deeper than it sounds: you must force your opponent to capture.
Captured 0
Captured 0
Note: a few tournament subtleties (draw rules, rare priority cases) are simplified in this online version.
Rules
- All movement rules follow Russian draughts: men capture forward and backward, kings fly.
- Capturing is still compulsory — this is the whole weapon: you force captures on your opponent.
- A man touching the last rank mid-capture promotes instantly.
- You win by losing every piece, or by having no legal move.
About the game
Giveaway is the classic 'second game' every draughts culture invents, and in Russia poddavki is played seriously enough to have its own tournaments and computer analyses (the 8×8 giveaway game has been solved: it is a first-player win). Beginners discover quickly that losing on purpose is shockingly difficult.