Spanish draughts and Turkish draughts have identical rules:

1. The singleton moves and captures only in forward direction

2. There is a long doubleton (king)

Why is Spanish draughts a diagonal game and Turkish draughts on orthogonal game? This is linked with the chess board that a culture used in the Middle Ages. Explanation.

Draughts: originally played on a lined board but transferred to the chess board

 Since ancient times draughts is played on the lined board below.

 In France in the 14th c. AD [Stoep 2005:157-166], draughts was transferred to the chess board. This practice was successful: people did not need the lined board anymore, so people in other countries did the same. But there were two different chess boards.

Evolution of the chess board

 The 64 squares board descends from a non European culture and was unchequered, see below.

Chess players in some Asian and Middle Eastern cultures are using the unchequered board to the present day. Below an illustration from a 14th c. Persian chess book.

The "Shah namah", the book of the kings, Persia 14th c. [Grünfeld 1994:64]

 Not long after the introduction of chess in Europe, chess players painted 32 squares of the board in some dark colour. A 11th c. manuscript mentions it as an improvement which some chess players had adopted because it simplifies the calculation of moves and is a ready means for preventing the occurrence of false moves [Murray 1913:452]. Also Spanish chess players switched over to the chequered board, see the plate below from the 13th c. Alfonso manuscript. And so did players in France and England.

Chess players in Spain, 13th c. [Grünfeld 1994:64]

Draughts on the chequered board: two different games

 The pattern of the board was responsible for the two different games of draughts. Click here for more information on this stage in the evolution of the game.

For our eye, the chequered board has a pattern of parallel diagonals. As a consequence, in countries where chess was played on the chequered board, as in France and Spain, draughts became a diagonal game.

Where the board was unchequered, like in the Middle East, draughts became an orthogonal game: the human eye sees a pattern of rows and columns.