Sittuyin (Burmese: စစ်တုရင်), also known as Burmese chess, is a strategyboard game created in Myanmar. It is a direct offspring of the Indian game of chaturanga, which arrived in Myanmar in the 8th century thus it is part of the same family of games such as chess, and shogi. 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.
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 (Burmese: စစ်ကဲမျဉ်း, general's lines).
Pieces and their movesEdit
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.
It can move one step forward but cannot retreat. It captures one diagonal step forward.
RulesEdit
A position after setup phase is complete
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) 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.
Most common starting positions
Dice rulesEdit
Anne Sunnucks writes that in some variations, three dice were thrown and each player made three moves at a time.[2]
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Further information Chess disambiguation Sittuyin Burmese စစ တ ရင also known as Burmese chess is a strategy board game created in Myanmar It is a direct offspring of the Indian game of chaturanga which arrived in Myanmar in the 8th century thus it is part of the same family of games such as chess and shogi 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 SittuyinSittuyin board and starting positionYears active8th century to presentGenresBoard gameAbstract strategy gamePlayers2Setup time lt 1 minutePlaying timeFrom 20 minutes to several hoursChanceNoneSkillsStrategy tacticsSynonymsBurmese chessIn its native land the game has been largely overshadowed by Western international chess although it remains popular in the northwest regions 1 Contents 1 Board 2 Pieces and their moves 3 Rules 4 Dice rules 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Bibliography 7 External linksBoard EditThe 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 Burmese စစ က မ ဉ general s lines Pieces and their moves EditPieces 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 Burmese မင က king It can move one step in any direction nbsp General s movement nbsp Elephant s movement Sit ke Burmese စစ က general It can move one step in any diagonal direction as fers in shatranj Sin Burmese ဆင elephant It can move one step in any diagonal direction or one step forward as silver general in shogi Myin Burmese မ င horse It can jump two horizontal squares and one vertical square or two vertical squares and one horizontal square as knight in Western chess Yahhta Burmese ရထ chariot It can move any number of free squares along four orthogonal directions Ne Burmese နယ feudal lord It can move one step forward but cannot retreat It captures one diagonal step forward Rules Edit nbsp A position after setup phase is completeOnly 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 khwe checkmate 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 Most common starting positions nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Dice rules EditAnne Sunnucks writes that in some variations three dice were thrown and each player made three moves at a time 2 See also EditShort assize a type of medieval European chessReferences Edit Pritchard 1994 p 31 Anne Sunnucks The Encyclopaedia of Chess St Martin s Press 1970 pp 97 98 Bibliography Edit Maung Maung Aye 1971 Sittuyin Traditional Myanmar Chess Murray H J R 1913 A History of Chess Reissued ed Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 827403 3 Pritchard D B 1994 The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants Games amp Puzzles Publications pp 31 34 ISBN 0 9524142 0 1 Pritchard D B 2007 Beasley John ed The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants John Beasley pp 266 67 ISBN 978 0 9555168 0 1 External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sittuyin Sittuyin by Hans L Bodlaender The Chess Variant Pages Sittuyin the Burmese Chess by Jean Louis Cazaux Burmese Traditional Chess by Dr Peter Nicolaus The Chess Variant Pages How to Play Sittuyin Ancientchess com Free Sittuyin chess pieces svg file format github com Retrieved from https en 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