If it is true that draughts players borrowed so many words from the vocabulary of chess players, draughts must have been a minor game, played in the shadow of chess. We may expect that Murray came to this conclusion after an inquiry into the position of chess and draughts in some countries, especially in France. But I have the same repetitive observation: Murray failed to do any investigation. I did some spadework. In Spain, draughts seems to have taken a higher social position than chess. The position of draughts in Germany is not clear, but there are indications that before the 20th c. it was a socially accepted game, perhaps more popular than chess. In England and Flanders a considerable number of houses had and have a chequered sign; in England the sign bears the neutral name of "chequered board", in Flanders its name is "draughts board". I could collect more information about the position of chess and draughts in France and Holland. Follow the links for details.

The general picture: until c. 1850/1900 draughts was the dominant game, chess a minor board game. The number of subscribers on chess- and draughts books tells the same thing: publishers had more copies of draughts books than copies of chess books printed. The subscription list of the reprint of Philidor's chess book in 1777, with both an English and a French edition, counted 280 names. The number of addicts signing up for the book of the Dutchman Ephraim van Emden in 1785 was 300; the subscription list of the book of the Englishman Joshua Sturges in 1800 counted more than 400 names [Stoep 2005:95].