Draughts ( /ˈdrɑːfts/, British English; checkers,American English) is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque. The name derives from the verb to draw or to move.

The most popular forms are international draughts, played on a 10×10 board, followed by English draughts, also called American checkers, played on an 8×8 checkerboard, but there are many other variants including several played on a 12×12 board.

Draughts (or checkers) is played by two players, on opposite sides of a playing board, alternating moves. One player has dark pieces, and the other has light pieces. It is against the rules for one player to move the other player's pieces. The player with the light pieces makes the first move unless stated otherwise. A move consists of a player moving their piece diagonally to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the square is occupied by an opponents' piece, it may be captured (and removed from the game) by jumping over it to the unoccupied square one square beyond the opponents piece. The playable surface consists of using only the dark squares of a board with alternating light and dark squares. A piece may only move diagonally into an unoccupied square. Capturing is mandatory in most official rules, although some people play with variant rules which make capturing optional when presented.^{[citation needed]} In all variants, the player who has no pieces remaining or cannot move due to being blocked loses the game, unless otherwise stated.

Alexander Sergeyevich Georgiev (Russian: Александр Сергеевич Георгиев; born July 17, 1975, in Pyatilipy, Novgorod Oblast, Russian SFSR) is a draughts player who won the World Championship in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2011. He is considered to be among the best living players of the game.