Chess and checkers (draughts) often share the same 8×8 checkered board, but the games diverge in pieces, movement, and how you win. In chess, each side starts with 16 pieces of six types — king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn — and each type moves differently. The goal is to checkmate the opponent’s king (threaten it with capture that cannot be escaped).
In American checkers, each side starts with 12 identical pieces that move diagonally on the dark squares only. Captures are made by jumping over an opposing piece, and in most official rules a capture is mandatory when available. You win by capturing all of the opponent’s pieces or leaving them with no legal move — not by trapping a single king piece as in chess.