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Burmese chess
စစ်တုရင်
Burmese chess: a king, his general, two elephants, two horses, two chariots and eight foot soldiers a side, on a board crossed by two lines.
စစ်တုရင် (sittuyin) is the traditional chess of Myanmar and a close relative of chaturanga, the Indian ancestor of chess. The pawns start in a stepped line, the general takes one small step at a time, and the two lines across the board decide where a pawn can be promoted.
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You are pink and move first
Play sittuyin
01
Tap one of your pink pieces, then a dot to move it.
02
Each piece moves its own way. They are all shown below.
03
Put the blue king in check with no way out to win.
04
You may not stalemate: a move that leaves Blue with no legal move, without checkmate, isn’t allowed.
05
Lost your general? A pawn on a line square in Blue’s half can be promoted to a new one.
Easy makes mistakes on purpose. Hard thinks for about a second and a half a move.
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Nine things to know
How to play
01
Why the board has a cross
The two lines from corner to corner are the sit-ke-myin (စစ်ကဲမျဉ်း), the general’s lines. They mark where a pawn can be promoted: the line squares in the other player’s half.
02
Setting up
Only the pawns have fixed places: a stepped line across the middle, four on the third row and four on the fourth. Traditionally each player then arranges the rest behind them, Red first, with the chariots on the back row. This game starts from one fixed arrangement.
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King · Min-gyi (မင်းကြီး)
One step in any direction. It can never move into check.
04
General · Sit-ke (စစ်ကဲ)
One step diagonally. Each side has only one general at a time.
05
Elephant · Sin (ဆင်)
One step diagonally, or one step straight forward. Never straight back or sideways.
06
Horse · Myin (မြင်း)
Jumps in an L, like a chess knight. It is the only piece that leaps over others.
07
Chariot · Yahhta (ရထား)
Any distance in a straight line, forwards, backwards or sideways, until something is in the way.
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Pawn · Nè (နယ်)
One step forward, never back and never two at once. It captures one step diagonally forward.
09
A new general
Once your general has been captured, a pawn standing on a line square in the other half can become a general instead of moving. In the game, tap the pawn and choose Promote.
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Win, lose or draw
Winning
Checkmate the other king: put it in check with no way out.
No stalemate
You may not leave your opponent with no legal move unless it is checkmate. The game won’t let you make that move.
Draws
Only the two kings left, the same position three times, or 50 moves each without a capture or a pawn move.