@ganelon Some Central & South German draughts variants (see description in http://mlwi.magix.net/bg/spanishcheckersvariants.htm ) also have this extra rule!

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To @ganelon and everyone interested in draughts:
many variants with different rules are implemented in "Alfa checkers" hwiegman.home.xs4all.nl/ ; depending on the board size there are 3 different versions available (8x8; 10x10; 12x12). The engine which is built-in that program, is very weak and you should not rely on evaluation, but, nevertheless, you will be able to taste each variant.

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@kalnap Check my idea chaoskampfcheckers.blogspot.com/
I would like to know your opinion.

@Pokshtya I am forced to admit that I don't see bright future for your variant mainly because of randomness at the first stage of game. As well, take into consideration that FMJD rules are not the most competitive ones for this type of game.
Your idea has some potential, but it should be improved. For example, if you change capturing by jump (which takes place in majority of well known draughts variants) to capturing by landing (as it would be in chess), that would make your game more attractive. Just for inspiration, let me state that there is already historically attested draughts variant where a crowned piece (king) can capture by landing, provided that there is a vacant square in the direction of capturing line. Practically, it means that (1) a player can't capture any piece which stands on the edge squares, (2) when multiple pieces are captured, the trajectory of capturing sequence is zig-zag.
This variant is called North American draughts glukkazan.github.io/checkers/north-american-checkers.htm which in all other cases is played under English rules, and there is experimental variant "Alaskan draughts" which applies same idea to "flying king", and it is played according to 'Russian' rules: glukkazan.github.io/checkers/alaska-checkers.htm .

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Thank you. I understand your point of view. Many correspondence masters have shown interest in this variant, including former World Correspondence Champions. It is not my goal to ensure a bright future for any variant of checkers, since I am not a checkers player at all. I am engaged in chess projects and they are in the first place for me. The difference between games with complete and incomplete information is obvious. The fact that more people play this kind of games speaks in favor of the latter. By the way, the most popular game in terms of the number of games played on the Internet is Banqi (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banqi). No, not chess or checkers. People play those games where the winner is not known in advance. This is what determines the competitiveness of the game.