Check out Atomic Chess, our featured variant for November, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, A.J. Winkelspecht.

Mini Burmese Chess

Sittuyin’s second cousin, twice removed

Introduction

This chess variant was inspired by a variant of Chaturanga called Burmese Chess, or Sittuyin. It has fewer total pieces than Sittuyin does, but the pieces have been somewhat modernized. The pieces are placed on the board in a manner similar to Sittuyin, but without any complicated restrictions. Many of the promotional and endgame rules of Sittuyin have also been simplified. There is a Zillions of Games rules file available for anyone who would like to play this game.

Setup of the Board

This game is played on a 6x6 board with four additional squares, two on each side of the board. These extra squares are not special in any way. For the purposes of notation, the board will be considered an 8x8 board with 24 of the perimeter squares obscured. At the start of the game, each player has in hand: one King, one Queen, one Rook, one Knight, one Bishop, and one Guard.

White: Pawn (P) b3 - d3, e4 - g4;

Black: Pawn (P) b3 - d3, e4 - g4;


Rules of the Game

All rules of orthodox chess apply unless otherwise stated. White places all in-hand pieces in the area behind friendly pawns, in any desired manner. Black then places all in-hand pieces in the area behind friendly pawns, in any desired manner. After all pieces have been positioned, the game begins with White moving first. Unlike Sittuyin, it is not allowed to place pieces on the positions of pawns. Also unlike Sittuyin, White cannot make objections to Black’s choice of setup. The game is won by either checkmating or stalemating the enemy King. Upon reaching the seventh rank, Pawns are promoted to any piece other than a King.

Movement of the Pieces

Pawn: A Pawn moves like an orthodox Pawn, except that it cannot make a double step. It promotes on the 7th rank to Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop, or Guard.

Knight: A Knight moves like an orthodox Knight.

Guard: A Guard leaps to the second square in any direction, or may make a non-capturing move one square orthogonally.

Bishop: A Bishop moves like an orthodox Bishop.

Rook: A Rook moves like an orthodox Rook. It may not castle with the King.

Queen: A Queen moves like an orthodox Queen, but only up to three squares away.

King: A King moves like an orthodox King. The King cannot castle in this game.

Additional Notes

I tried to use the most flexible features of Sittuyin to help keep the game from feeling too dense. Once both sides have placed all of their pieces, the density of the board is 60%. The Pawn setup I borrowed from Sittuyin also helps to make the smaller board size less of an issue. After simplifying the endless list of arcane restrictions that Sittuyin imposes, the resulting game probably borrows more from orthodox Chess than from Sittuyin.
Written by A.J. Winkelspecht.

This is an entry in the contest to design a chess variant on a board with 40 squares.

WWW page created: December 10, 1999.