Burmese Chess (Sittuyin) is still played in parts of Burma. It is a descendant of Indian Chaturanga and is believed to be quite old. The pieces are red and black and are usually carved. The red pawns are carved as demonic men, the black as monkeys, in reference to the battle of the demons versus the god Rãma and Hanuman's monkeys.

The objective is checkmate. The king, rook (chariot), and knight (horse), move as in orthodox chess. The pawns also move as in orthodox chess, but have no initial double move. The General (equivalent: queen) moves one step diagonally in all directions. The Elephant (equivalent: bishop) moves one step diagonally in all directions, or one step forwards. Pawns promote to General only, and only if the General is missing from the board. Pawn promotion occurs only on the marked squares on the enemy side of the board. Promotion occurs not immediately, but when the pawn leaves the square. Note! When leaving the square, a pawn is not allowed to promote if that implies capturing an enemy King or General. A pawn can also promote on the spot, that is, promote without moving (just lift and drop the pawn). It is possible for a pawn to move past the squares where he can promote: in that case, promotion is no longer possible for that pawn.

In the first phase the pieces are dropped on the board, either behind the pawn chain, or on a friendly pawn. In the latter case the removed friendly pawn must immediately be relocated to another empty position. This implementation honours the rule that the rooks must be dropped on the first rank, which is reserved for the rooks only. After all the pieces have been dropped the play begins. Stalemate is not allowed in Burmese Chess. Should you put the opponent in a stalemate position, you must take the move back.

Don't underestimate the curiously moving Elephant, although it is slow. It is very suitable for giving mate. Together with a king, or some other piece, it can often give mate in the endgame. Knights and bishops can seldom achieve this. The Elephant has about the same value as a knight. Passed pawns are much less dangerous in Burmese Chess than in orthodox chess. Play aggressively with the General, because when it is exchanged, you can promote a pawn a get a new one.

The additional drop variants differ only regarding the promotion rules. Pawns can promote upon entering a marked square. The 8 standard positions given as variants derive from the Burmese Chess Guide 'Myan-ma sit bayin lan-nyunt sa-ok gyi', as cited in D.B. Pritchard's The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants.

Note! According to the standard rules of the Burmese Chess Federation, pieces are always dropped behind the pawn chain and Red drops all his pieces first. This variant has also been implemented.