Sittuyin

Sittuyin (Burmese: စစ်တုရင်), often called Burmese chess, is a strategy board game that originated in Myanmar. It comes directly from the Indian game chaturanga, which likely reached Myanmar by the 11th century or later, making it a relative of chess and shogi. The name *sittuyin* derives from Burmese words for 'chess' and 'war' or 'army,' reflecting its martial origins. In Myanmar, the game has mostly been pushed aside by Western (international) chess, though it still sees regular play in the northwestern parts of the country.

The board has 64 squares arranged in eight rows and eight columns, but the squares are not colored in alternating patterns. Two diagonal lines run from corner to corner across the board; these are called *sit-ke-myin* (Burmese: စစ်ကဲမျဉ်း), or "general's lines."

Pieces are usually carved from wood, sometimes from ivory, and their height varies by type. The official colors for the pieces are red and black. Each player has one *min-gyi* (Burmese: မင်းကြီး, "king"), which moves one step in any direction, similar to the king in Western chess. There is also one *sit-ke* (Burmese: စစ်ကဲ, "general"), which moves one step diagonally in any direction, like the fers in shatranj. Two *sin* (Burmese: ဆင်, "elephant") pieces move one step diagonally forward or one step forward—unlike the silver general in shogi, which can also move diagonally backward. Two *myin* (Burmese: မြင်း, "horse") pieces jump two squares horizontally and one vertically, or two vertically and one horizontally, exactly like the knight in Western chess. Two *yahhta* (Burmese: ရထား, "chariot") pieces move any number of free squares along the four orthogonal directions, like the rook. Finally, eight *nè* (Burmese: နယ်, "feudal lord") pieces move one step forward and cannot retreat; they capture one step diagonally forward, similar to pawns.

At the start, only the feudal lords (pawns) are placed on the board. The game begins with the Red player (shown here with white pieces) and then the Black player placing their other pieces anywhere on their own half of the board—this phase is called *sit-tee* (troops deployment). Chariots can be placed on any square of the back rank. In official tournaments, a small curtain is set across the middle of the board so players cannot see each other's deployment during the *sit-tee* stage.