Checkers, also known as draughts, is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. The term "checkers" derives from the checkered board which the game is played on.

The most popular forms of checkers are American checkers, which is played on an 8×8 checkerboard; Russian draughts, Turkish draughts on an 8x8 board. There are many other variants played on 8×8 boards.

While the oldest known Checkers artifact unearthed in Iraq dates back to 3000 BC, the earliest known version of the game comes from a game called Alquerque, which was played in ancient Egypt in 1400 BC. After years of being played the Egyptian way, in 1100 AD, a Frenchman adapted it to be played on a Chessboard with 12 pieces per player.

Then, in 1756 an English mathematician created official rules for the game, and in 1840 was the start of the very first World Championships. Arthur Samuel then created a computerized Checkers program in 1952, which helped turn Checkers into the global phenomenon it is today. In 2007, the game was “solved” by a team of researchers from the University of Alberta (in Canada) led by Jonathan Schaeffer.

Link: History of Checkers - Easily Explained (With Pictures) - Gamesver