Corners, known in Russian as ugolki, is played on an ordinary checkers board, and nobody captures anything. It is a race: the first player to march all their pieces into the opponent's corner wins. Below are the classic nine-piece rules used on 9qum, followed by tips on how to win.
▶ Play corners 🎓 Play with a coach
Two players use an 8×8 board, and all 64 squares are in play, not just the dark ones. Each player has 9 pieces arranged in a 3×3 square in their own corner, which is called "home".
White moves first, and then the players take turns. Each turn you move one piece.
There are two kinds of move.
Chains of jumps. After a jump you may jump again in the same move if there is another piece next to you with an empty square behind it. You may change direction and stop after any jump. Steps and jumps cannot be mixed in one move: it is either one step or a series of jumps.
There are no captures. The piece you jump over stays where it is, whether it is yours or your opponent's. You may move in any direction, backwards included, but the winner is whoever heads for the far corner faster.
Moves are written by squares: a hyphen marks a step (a3-a4) and colons mark jumps (b3:d3:d5). You will see this notation in your game history and in Game analysis.
You win by being first to place all 9 pieces in the opponent's corner. One important detail: White moves first, so when White brings in its last piece, Black still gets one more move. If Black completes its corner with that move, the game is a draw; if not, White wins. This way both players get the same number of moves.
The easiest way to keep your opponent out of your corner would be never to leave home. To prevent that, there is a rule: after each side's 40th move, a player who still has even one piece in their home corner loses. If both players still have pieces at home, the game is a draw.
In practice this means one thing: get every piece out of home well before move 40. A piece forgotten at home is one of the most common reasons beginners lose.
If the game reaches 100 moves per side, it ends: whoever has more pieces in the opponent's corner wins, and an equal count is a draw. A player with no legal move at all (this is extremely rare) loses.
Many people in Russia and Kazakhstan remember corners from school, and the rules vary from group to group: some allow diagonal moves, some use 12 or 16 pieces. The game is related to Halma and Chinese checkers, where pieces also cross the board by jumping. 9qum plays the classic version: 9 pieces in a 3×3 corner, steps and jumps only along ranks and files, and the 40-move rule. The board highlights where a piece can go, so you cannot make an illegal move.
The Learn section has a 15-step corners course: the rules (a step, no diagonal moves, jumping over your own and your opponent's pieces, chains of jumps, the goal, a draw on an equal finish), first techniques (the longest jump, the ladder, far corner first, don't block the entrance) and how to win (a game plan, the 40-move rule, don't leave pieces at home, the finish). Each step is a position on a board where you find the move yourself. After that there are 50 puzzles: the longest jump, into the corner in 2 and in 3 moves, and getting every piece out of home before move 40.
In Play with a coach mode the coach rates every move you make and reminds you about the 40-move rule. The computer has 4 levels: Novice, Amateur, Strong and Master. Any position can be opened in Game analysis. Read more on the Learn corners with an AI coach page. Playing is free, and signing up takes a minute.
▶ Play the computer 📚 Learn 🧩 Puzzles
Not in classic corners. On 9qum a piece steps and jumps only along ranks and files. Variants with diagonal moves exist only as house rules.
Yes. You can jump over any neighbouring piece, yours or your opponent's. The piece you jump over stays on the board: there are no captures in corners.
When White brings in its last piece, Black gets one more move. If Black also completes all nine with it, the game is a draw. If not, White wins.
So that nobody sits at home and blocks their own corner. After each side's 40th move, a player who still has a piece at home loses; if both do, it is a draw.
Yes, you may move in any direction. It usually wastes moves, though: it is better to make room inside the corner by moving a piece deeper.