Sittuyin (), also known as Burmese chess, is a

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

created in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. It is a direct offspring of the Indian game of

chaturanga Chaturanga (, , ) is an Traditional games of India, ancient Indian Strategy game, strategy board game. It is first known from India around the seventh century AD. While there is some uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is t ...

, which arrived in Myanmar in the 8th century thus it is part of the same family of games such as

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, and

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as chess, Western chess, chaturanga, xiangqi, Indian chess, and janggi. ...

. ''Sit'' is the modern Burmese word for "army" or "war"; the word ''sittuyin'' can be translated as "representation of the four characteristics of army"—chariot, elephant, cavalry and infantry. In its native land, the game has been largely overshadowed by Western (international) chess, although it remains popular in the northwest regions.

Board

The sittuyin board consists of 64 squares, 8 rows and 8 columns, without alternating colors. The board has also two diagonal lines from corner to corner, which are known as ''sit-ke-myin'' (, general's lines).

Pieces and their moves

Pieces are commonly made of wood, and sometimes of ivory. The height of the pieces varies by class. The official colors of the pieces are red and black. ''Min-gyi'' (, "king", analogous to the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

in Western chess) :1 piece per player. It can move one step in any direction. ''Sit-ke'' (, "general", analogous to the

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

in Western chess) :1 piece per player. It can move one step in any diagonal direction (as ''fers'' in

shatranj Shatranj (, ; from Middle Persian ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins lie in the South Asian game of chaturanga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as it was introduced to Europe by contacts in ...

). ''Sin'' (, "elephant", analogous to the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

in Western chess) :2 pieces per player. It can move one step in any diagonal direction or one step forward (as silver general in

). ''Myin'' (, "horse", analogous to the

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in Western chess) :2 pieces per player. It can jump two horizontal squares and one vertical square, or two vertical squares and one horizontal square, as knight in Western chess. ''Yahhta'' (, "chariot", analogous to the rook in Western chess) :2 pieces per player. It can move any number of free squares along four orthogonal directions. ''Nè'' (, "feudal lord", analogous to the pawn in Western chess) :8 pieces per player. It can move one step forward but cannot retreat. It captures one diagonal step forward.

Rules

Only feudal lords ( pawns) are on the board in the initial position. The game starts with the Red player (depicted here having white pieces), followed by the Black player, placing their other pieces arbitrarily on their own halves of the board (known as ''sit-tee'' or troops deployment): chariots can be put on any square on the back rank. In official tournaments, a small curtain is used on the middle of the board to prevent the players seeing each other's deployment during the ''sit-tee'' phase. One of the possible game openings is shown in the diagram. Feudal lords promote to general when they reach diagonal lines marked on the board. The promotion is possible only if that player's general has been captured. If the player has a feudal lord on a promotion square and their general is no longer on the board, the player can (if they wish to) promote the feudal lord to general instead of making a move. A feudal lord which passes the promotion square cannot promote anymore. The goal of the game is to ''khwè'' (

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

) the opponent's king. Putting the opponent in stalemate is not allowed. In the version reported in '' A History of Chess'' in 1913, a game of sittuyin had three stages: # Eight moves each: the ''sit-tee'' stage described above, but no restriction on chariot placing; Murray did not mention a curtain. Also, a player could put a piece where one of their pawns was, and in the same move put that pawn in a free square behind their row of pawns. # Second stage: in each move, each player moves any one of their pieces (not a pawn) to any other empty place in their own half of the board, ignoring the usual move rules. Or they can move a pawn one square forwards and this ends the second stage and the third stage starts. # Ordinary play, obeying the rules for piece moves.

Dice rules

Anne Sunnucks writes that in some variations, three dice were thrown and each player made three moves at a time.Anne Sunnucks, ''The Encyclopaedia of Chess'', St. Martin's Press, 1970, pp. 97–98.

References

Bibliography

* Maung Maung Aye (1971). ''Sittuyin: Traditional Myanmar Chess''. * * *

External links

Sittuyin
by Hans L. Bodlaender, '' The Chess Variant Pages''
Sittuyin, the Burmese Chess
by Jean-Louis Cazaux

by Dr. Peter Nicolaus, '' The Chess Variant Pages''
How to Play Sittuyin
Ancientchess.com
Free Sittuyin chess pieces (svg file format)
github.com {{Chess variants, state=collapsed Games related to chaturanga Chess in Myanmar