SOLVING CHECKERS: FIRST RESULT

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Schaeffer, Jonathan¹

Affiliations: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Note: [1] Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E8. Email: jonathan@cs.ualberta.ca.

Abstract: The game of checkers (8×8 draughts) has a search space of roughly 500 billion billion positions (5×l020). There are 174 three-move (or ply) openings in checkers. This paper reports that the much-feared White Doctor opening has been solved—it is a draw. This is the first checkers opening to have its perfect-play result determined. Roughly 50 openings need to be solved before the game-theoretic value of the initial position of the game can be determined. The only hurdle remaining to complete the goal of solving checkers is computing resources.

DOI: 10.3233/ICG-2005-28107

Journal: ICGA Journal, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 32-36, 2005