Derek Nalls wrote on Tue, Aug 7, 2012 09:22 PM UTC:
I hold the opinion that in Chess, a game with a significant
first-move-of-the-game advantage for white, it is a win for white with
perfect play. [Unfortunately, Chess will be intractable to computer AI
solutions of this nature for a very long time to come.] Checkers is a
chess variant (by broad definition) also having a white-black turn order
where it has been proven to be a draw with perfect play. However, checkers
cannot move more than one space per turn (except when jumping enemy
pieces). In Chess, a bishop (for example) may move up to seven spaces from
where it rests in one turn if it has a clear path. This is comparable to
seven consecutive turns in Checkers. That is why I doubt the same result
will eventually be discovered for both games with perfect play.