The king is called min-gyi, the Burmese word for “king.” His move is also familiar: one space in any direction. As in other forms of chess, the king may not move where he is threatened with capture, since his preservation is all-important.

Starting the Game

Here’s what’s unique about the Burmese chess tradition. First, the pawns (nè) are set up well advanced on the board. As shown in the diagram, each player starts with pawns at his left on the 3rd row, and pawns at his right on the 4th row. The players then proceed to set up the rest of the pieces in their own chosen arrangement, following a few guidelines.

Setup Guidelines

1) The player playing Red first sets up all of his pieces; the player playing black (or green) then sets up all of his pieces.

2) The back row (first rank) on each side of the board is reserved for the rooks (yahhta). They are placed anywhere on that row.

3) The remaining pieces are set up wherever the player wishes, on the second and third rows, behind the row of pawns (nè). These pieces (min-gyi, myin, sit-ke and sin) may not be placed on the first row.

4) The player with the black (or green) pieces, who begins after the red pieces are already set up, may not place a rook (yahhta) in a direct line with the opponent’s king (min-gyi) unless there is at least one piece, other than a pawn (nè), standing somewhere in the line between the rook and king. The piece between the two may be of either color. This simply reduces the second player’s advantage in setting up an immediate attack once he sees how his opponent’s pieces have been deployed.

5) After all of the black (or green) pieces have been set up, red makes the first move and the players alternate moving one piece at each turn through the rest of the game.

Pawn Promotion

Notice the long diagonals creating a large “X” across the playing surface. These lines mark the promotion squares. When a pawn (nè) moves onto one of these lines, on his opponent’s side of the chessboard, the pawn may be promoted to a queen (sit-ke), only if the queen has been captured and is out of play. If a player has a pawn standing on one of these promotion squares , not yet promoted, he may choose to promote the pawn at any time, as long as the pawn is on the promotion square and the queen is available, off of the board. Choosing to promote the pawn in this way constitutes a move, and the player does not move any piece on the board until his next turn.

Winning the Game

Like other forms of chess, the object of this game is to entrap the enemy king (min-gyi) so that he is threatened and can not avoid capture. If at any time a king is threatened with capture, he is said to be in check and must move so that he is no longer threatened. If no possible move brings him out of check, he is in checkmate and has lost the game.
In this game, stalemate is not allowed. It is not permitted to trap the king, leaving him no legal move, while he is not actually being threatened with capture. The attacking player must make some other move, not creating a stalemate.
If it becomes apparent that neither player has enough force of pieces to create a checkmate, the game is drawn, without a winner.

Variations

The game of sittuyin has existed for over a millennium without a unified body of rules in all regions. The rules given here are based on the Burmese Chess Federation rules established after World War II, but they are by no means universal for this game. If you come upon this game in other contexts, among other players, ask about the exact rules of piece deployment, pawn promotion and endgames. There may be interesting differences.

Graphics on this web page

The top illustration is from the title page of the 1924 Burmese publication Min-ma Sit Bayin Lan-nyunt Sa-ok Gyi. All other photos and diagrams are produced by AncintChess.com.