How To Play Myanmar Traditional Chess 1 Chapter 1: The nature and objectives of the game of Myanmar Traditional Chess 1.1 The game of Myanmar Traditional Chess is played between two opponents who move their pieces alternately on a square board called a 'chessboard'. 1.2 The player with the red pieces commences the game. He shall set the initial position of his own side first and then the player with the black pieces shall set the initial position of the other side. After setting the position, no player is allowed to correct the position again. 1.3 Allowance time for setting the pieces shall be 5 minutes each unless no special condition is mentioned before the game. 1.4 If it is played under time control, the player with the red pieces shall set the initial position while his clock is running. After setting the red pieces, the clock of the player with the red pieces shall stop and the player with the black pieces shall set his initial position on his own time. After setting the pieces of both sides, then the players shall stop their clocks. 1.5 After setting the pieces and the completion of the setting is confirmed by both players, the game is started. 1.6 A player is said to 'have the move', when his opponent's move has been made. 1.7 The objective of each player is to place the opponent's king 'under attack' in such a way that the opponent has no legal move. The player who achieves this goal is said to have 'checkmated' the opponent's king and to have won the game. 1.8 Leaving one’s own king under attack, exposing one’s own king to attack and also ’capturing’ the opponent’s king are not allowed.
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How to Play Myanmar Traditional Chess - EnG - BOOK 1
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How To Play Myanmar Traditional Chess 1
Chapter 1: The nature and objectives of the game of Myanmar Traditional Chess
1.1 The game of Myanmar Traditional Chess is played between two opponents who move their pieces alternately on a square board called a 'chessboard'.
1.2 The player with the red pieces commences the game. He shall set the initial position of his own side first and then the player with the black pieces shall set the initial position of the other side. After setting the position, no player is allowed to correct the position again.
1.3 Allowance time for setting the pieces shall be 5 minutes each unless no special condition is mentioned before the game. 1.4 If it is played under time control, the player with the red pieces shall set the initial position while his clock is running. After setting the red pieces, the clock of the player with the red pieces shall stop and the player with the black pieces shall set his initial position on his own time. After setting the pieces of both sides, then the players shall stop their clocks.
1.5 After setting the pieces and the completion of the setting is confirmed by both players, the game is started.
1.6 A player is said to 'have the move', when his opponent's move has been made.
1.7 The objective of each player is to place the opponent's king 'under attack' in such a way that the opponent has no legal move. The player who achieves this goal is said to have 'checkmated' the opponent's king and to have won the game.
1.8 Leaving one’s own king under attack, exposing one’s own king to attack and also ’capturing’ the opponent’s king are not allowed.
1.9 The player whose king has been checkmated has lost the game.
1.10 If the position is such that neither player can possibly checkmate, the game is drawn.
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Chapter 2: The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard
2.1 The chessboard
The chessboard is composed of an 8x8 grid of 64 equal light-coloured squares with two diagonal lines drawn clearly.
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2.2 The pieces
At the beginning of the game one player has 16 red pieces; the other has 16 black pieces: These pieces are as follows:
A red king, usually indicated by the symbol
A red general, usually indicated by the symbol
Two red rooks, usually indicated by the symbol
Two red elephants, usually indicated by the symbol
Two red knights, usually indicated by the symbol
Eight red pawns, usually indicated by the symbol
A black king, usually indicated by the symbol
A black general, usually indicated by the symbol
Two black rooks, usually indicated by the symbol
Two black elephants, usually indicated by the symbol
Two black knights, usually indicated by the symbol
Eight black pawns, usually indicated by the symbol
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2.3 The initial position
2.3.1 The initial position of the pawns on the chessboard is fixed as shown below:
2.3.2 It is allowed to place the king, general, elephants and knights freely on the one’s side behind the pawns according to the player’s wish.
2.3.3 The rooks are allowed to place only at the back rank.
2.3.4 The eight vertical columns of squares are called ‘files’. The eight horizontal rows of squares are called ‘ranks’. A straight line of squares touching corner to corner is called a ‘diagonal’.
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Chapter 3: The moves of the pieces
3.1 It is not permitted to move a piece to a square occupied by a piece of the same colour.
3.2 If a piece moves to a square occupied by an opponent's piece the latter is captured and removed from the chessboard as part of the same move. A piece is said to attack an opponent's piece if the piece could make a capture on that square according to Articles 3.4 to 3.9.
3.3 A piece is considered to attack a square, even if such a piece is constrained from moving to that square because it would then leave or place the king of its own colour under attack.
3.4 The general may move to adjoining diagonal square. It means that the most squares to choose for moving the general is only four.
3.5 The rook may move to any square along the file or the rank on which it stands.
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3.6 The elephant may move to any adjoining diagonal squares and front square. It means that the most squares to choose for moving the elephant is only five.
3.7 When making these moves, the general, rook or elephant may not move over any intervening pieces.
3.8 The knight may move to one of the squares nearest to that on which it stands but not on the same rank, file or diagonal.
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3.9 a. The pawn may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file, or
b. the pawn may move to a square occupied by an opponent's piece, which is diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece.
c. Promotion
c.1 When a pawn reaches one of the promotion squares, the diagonal squares of the opponent side, it can be exchanged for a general of the same colour provided the general of the same colour no longer exists on the board. The existence of the two generals of the same colour is not allowed. This exchange of a pawn for general is called 'promotion'.
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c.2 The promotion can be made right on the promotion square on which the pawn stands or one of the four adjoining diagonal squares.
c.3 Even a pawn is qualified to be promoted, the promotion is not allowed at once just after reaching the promotion square. It can get the promotion on the next move or later of the same player.
c.4 The promotion shall not be made in the direct-attacking position to the opponent piece by newly-promoted general.
c.5 The promotion shall not be made in the check position to the opponent king by newly-promoted general or discovered check position by its rook.
c.6 When only a pawn is left on the board, the promotion can be made according to the player’s wish. He has the right to take the promotion after the removal of second last pawn as well as to take after moving the pawn or not to take the promotion.
c.7 When no other pieces but only a pawn is left on the board and it has no square to move and forming the stale-mate position, the player has the right not to take promotion and claim the draw. Then the game is decided as a draw. The opponent cannot force to take the promotion in order to avoid the stale-mate position.
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3.10 The king can move to any adjoining square not attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces.
3.11 The king is said to be 'in check' if it is attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces, even if such pieces are constrained from moving to that square because they would then leave or place their own king in check. No piece can be moved that will either expose the king of the same colour to check or leave that king in check.
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Chapter 4: The act of moving the pieces
4.1 Each move must be made with one hand only.
4.2 Provided that he first expresses his intention (for example by saying "j'adoube" or "I adjust"), the player having the move may adjust one or more pieces on their squares.
4.3 Except as provided in Article 4.2, if the player having the move deliberately touches on the chessboard
a. one or more of his own pieces, he must move the first piece touched that can be moved, or b. one or more of his opponent's pieces, he must capture the first piece touched, which can be captured, or c. one piece of each colour, he must capture the opponent's piece with his piece or, if this is illegal, move or capture the first piece touched which can be moved or captured. If it is unclear, whether the player’s own piece or his opponent’s was touched first, the player's own piece shall be considered to have been touched before his opponent's.
4.4 If none of the pieces touched can be moved or captured, the player may make any legal move.
4.5 When, as a legal move or part of a legal move, a piece has been released on a square, it cannot then be moved to another square. The move is considered to have been made when all the relevant requirements of Article 3 have been fulfilled
a. in the case of a capture, when the captured piece has been removed from the chessboard and the player, having placed his own piece on its new square, has released this capturing piece from his hand;b. in the case of the promotion of a pawn, when the pawn has been removed from the chessboard and the player's hand has released the new piece after placing it on the promotion square. If the player has released from his hand the pawn that has reached
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the promotion square, the move is not yet made, but the player no longer has the right to play the pawn to another square.
4.6 A player forfeits his right to a claim against his opponent's violation of Article 4.3 or 4.4 once he deliberately touches a piece.
Chapter 5: The completion of the game
5.1 a. The game is won by the player who has checkmated his opponent's king. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the checkmate position was a legal move.b. The game is won by the player whose opponent declares he resigns. This immediately ends the game.
5.2 a. The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. The game is said to end in 'stalemate'. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the stalemate position was legal.b. The game is drawn when a position has arisen in which neither player can checkmate the opponent's king with any series of legal moves. The game is said to end in a ‘dead position’. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the position was legal. (See Article 9.5)c. The game is drawn upon agreement between the two players during the game. This immediately ends the game. (See Article 9.1) d. The game may be drawn if each player has made at least the last 50 consecutive moves without the movement of any pawn and without any capture. (See Article 9.2) e. As soon as a player has only a king left on his side, the number of pieces belong to the opponent shall be observed. The game may be drawn if the player having only a king (lone king) left on his side can manage to escape in a number of fixed moves (move count shall be done starting from the very first move of lonely king) against the opponent of having particular pieces shown below:
Lone King vs. King & A Rook 16 movesLone King vs. King & An Elephant & A General 44 moves Lone King vs. King & A Knight & A General 64 moves
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Chapter 6: Algebraic notation
Myanmar Chess Federation recognizes for its own tournaments and matches only one system of notation, the Algebraic System, and recommends the use of this uniform chess notation also for chess literature and periodicals. Scoresheets using a notation system other than algebraic may not be used as evidence in cases where normally the scoresheet of a player is used for that purpose. An arbiter who observes that a player is using a notation system other than the algebraic should warn the player about of this requirement.
Description of the Algebraic System
6.1 In this description, "piece" means a piece other than a pawn.
6.2 Each piece is indicated by the first letter, a capital letter, of its name. Example: K = king, G = general, R = rook, E = elephant, N = knight. (In the case of the knight, for the sake of convenience, N is used.)
6.3 In printed periodicals, the use of figurines for the pieces is recommended.
6.4 Pawns are not indicated by their first letter, but are recognised by the absence of such a letter. Examples: e5, d4, a5.
6.5. The eight files (from left to right for Red and from right to left for Black) are indicated by the small letters, a, b, c, d, e, f, g and h, respectively.
6.6 The eight ranks (from bottom to top for Red and from top to bottom for Black) are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, respectively. Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks.
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6.7 As a consequence of the previous rules, each of the sixty-four squares is invariably indicated by a unique combination of a letter and a number.
6.8 Each move of a piece is indicated by (a) the first letter of the name of the piece in question and (b) the square of arrival. There is no hyphen between (a) and (b). Examples: Ee5, Nf3, Rd1. In the case of pawns, only the square of arrival is indicated. Examples: e5, d4, a5.
6.9 When a piece makes a capture, an x is inserted between (a) the first letter of the name of the piece in question and (b) the square of arrival. Examples: Bxe5, Nxf3, Rxd1.When a pawn makes a capture, the file of departure must be indicated, then an x, then the square of arrival. Examples: dxe5, gxf3, axb5.
6.10 If two identical pieces can move to the same square, the piece that is moved is indicated as follows:
1. If both pieces are on the same rank: by (a) the first letter of the name of the piece, (b) the file of the square of departure, and (c) the square of arrival. 2. If both pieces are on the same file: by (a) the first letter of the name of the piece, (b) the rank of the square of departure, and (c) the square of arrival.
3. If the pieces are on different ranks and files, method (1) is preferred. In the case of capture, an x must be inserted between (b) and (c). Examples: There are two knights, on the squares g1 and e1, and one of them moves to the square f3: either Ngf3 or Nef3, as the case may be. There are two knights, on the squares g5 and g1, and one of them moves to the square f3: either N5f3 or N1f3, as the case may be. There are two knights, on the squares h2 and d4, and one of them moves to the square f3: either Nhf3 or Ndf3, as the case may be. If a capture takes place on the square f3, the previous examples are changed by the insertion of an x: (1) either Ngxf3 or Nexf3, (2) either N5xf3 or N1xf3, (3) either Nhxf3 or Ndxf3, as the case may be.
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6.11 If two pawns can capture the same piece or pawn of the opponent, the pawn that is moved is indicated by (a) the letter of the file of departure, (b) an x, (c) the square of arrival. Example: If there are white pawns on squares c4 and e4 and a black pawn or piece on the square d5, the notation for White's move is either cxd5 or exd5, as the case may be.
6.12 In the case of the promotion of a pawn, the actual pawn move is indicated, followed immediately by the first letter of the new piece (General). Examples: b7-a8G.
6.13 The offer of a draw shall be marked as (=).
Essential abbreviations:x captures+ check++ or #checkmate
Chapter 7: Opening Set-up Positions
There are many opening setup positions created by Myanmar Traditional Chess experts in the past. Among these, there are eight fundamental and earliest positions for the red and the black. Even though no records and evidences were found, it is believed that they are created by U Pe Hsaung, traditional chess teacher of PANN TA NAW U Maung Kalay.
They were shown in the earliest book on Myanmar Traditional Chess “Myanmar Sitbayin LamNyun Sar Oak Gyi by Shwe Kyin U Ba ” as below.
Strategy - Hide the king in the safe place in order to avoid the early counter attack.- Place two elephants beside the king to guard front squares as well as the king.- Control the opening square for the general with two knights.- Put two rooks in adjoining squares to get the advantages on two connecting files.
2. Myinn Hsett Opening
Main Idea - Linking knights.
Strategy - Place the king at the strategic square close to the general to support the attack.- Place two elephants balancing for attack and defence.
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- Link two knights for better mobility in attacking.- Put two rooks in adjoining squares to get the advantages on two connecting files.
3. Myinn Shin Opening
Main Idea - Parallel knights.
Strategy - Place the king at the strategic square close to the general to support the attack.- Place two elephants balancing for attack and defence.- Place two knights in two connecting-squares of second rank to control centre. - Put one rook to be ready for opening file while placing another at centre.
4. Myinn Chate Opening
Main Idea - Knights on adjoining diagonal squares.
Strategy - Place the king near the right corner to make more space for the power pieces.- Place two elephants balancing for attack and defence.- Control the opening square for the general with two knights.
- Place the rooks fairly to control the most area of the board.
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5. Myinn Htup Opening
Main Idea - Double knights.
Strategy - Place the king near the right corner to make more space for the power pieces.- Place two elephants balancing for attack and defence.- Place two knights in same file for guarding the king as well as attacking. - Put the rooks in important centre squares
6. Myinn Khwa Opening
Main Idea - Fork knights.
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Strategy - Place the king at the strategic square close to the general to support the attack.- Place two elephants balancing for attack and defence.- Place two knights in centre squares for better mobility. - Put one rook to be ready for opening file while placing another at centre.
7. Ah Twinn Sit Ke Paut Opening
Main Idea - Keeping the general inside.
Strategy - Place the general at another square adjoining to the opening square for safety.- Place the king in the back rank to create more space for the pieces.- Place two elephants fairly for attack and defence.- Place two knights in double position at the centre file to control the centre.
8. Hsin Shin Myinn Khwa Opening
Main Idea - Parallel elephants and fork knights.
Strategy - Place the king near the right corner to make more space for the power pieces.- Place two elephants at two connecting squares of third rank for attacking.
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- Place two knights in centre squares for better mobility. - Put the rooks in centre to be ready for attacking.
In addition, there are many famous opening setup positions frequently used by the players. Since there are 519,792 positions to be set up, it is almost impossible to show all of them here. A few positions are mentioned below just to introduce some opening ideas.
9. Hsin Kyell Myinn Kyell Opening [ Opening of U Maung Kalay ]
10. Hsin Khwa Myinn Khwa Sit Ke Hlwel Opening [ Opening of U Maung Kalay ]
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11. Hsin Chate Myinn Kyell Opening [ Opening of U Khar Let @ U Car Late ]
12. Hsin Hsett Myinn Hsett Opening [ Opening of U Maung Kalay ]
13. Hsin Kyell Myinn Htup Opening [ Opening of U Her Met ]
14. Hsin Chate Myinn Chate Opening [ Opening of U Her Met ]
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15. Hsin Chate Myinn Chate Opening [ Opening of U Her Met ]
16. Hsin Kyell Myinn Shin Opening [ Opening of U Sein Hinn - 1923 ]
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17. Hsin Kyell Myinn Htup Opening [ Opening of U Her Met ]
18. Hsin Shin Myinn Htup Opening [ Opening of U Her Met ]
19. Hsin Shin Myinn Chate Opening [ Opening of Maung Ba Yee - 1 July, 1922 ]
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20. Hsin Kyell Myinn Khwa Opening [ Opening of U Tun Nyein ]
21. Hsin Kyell Myinn Chate Opening [ Opening of U Tun Nyein ]
23. Sa Linn Opening [ Opening of U Ba Pe - 20 July, 1922 ]
24. Hsin Khwa Myinn Kyell Opening [ Opening of U Boe Mya ]
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25. Hsin Kyell Myinn Kyell Opening [ Opening of U Ba Pe ]
26. Hsin Kyell Myinn Kyell Opening [ Opening of U Ba Pe ]
27. Hsin Kyell Myinn Kyell Opening [ Opening of U Ba Pe ]
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28. Hsin Chate Myinn Chate Mingyi Pone Opening [ Opening of U Hmat ]
29. Hsin Kyell Myinn Chate Opening [ Opening of U Tun Nyein ]
30. Hsin Kyell Myinn Kyell Opening [ Opening of U Tun Nyein ]
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31. Hsin Kyell Myinn Kyell Opening
Above positions (9-31) are also included in that book “Myanmar Sitbayin Lam Nyun Sar Oak Gyi by Shwe Kyin U Ba ”.
32. Hsin Shin Myinn Shin Opening
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33. Hsin Shin Myinn Chate Opening
34. Hsin Shin Myinn Htup Opening
35. Hsin Chate Myinn Khwa Opening
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36. Hsin Shin Myinn Shin Opening
37. Hsin Shin Myinn Chate Opening
38. Hsin Khwa Myinn Khwa Opening
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Chapter 8: The Check Mate Positions
Many mating patterns can be found in Myanmar Traditional Chess. They were kept in mind and relayed from generation to generation through playing and memorizing. It is a pity not having the records of the game played in the early days of Myanmar history. Some literature works by the famous ancient authors have shown us about Myanmar Traditional Chess being played among the many walks of lives in the respective eras.
We have to appreciate the well-done book by Shwe Kyin U Ba in which he tried to introduce the recording of the game and notation system.
1. Mate by rook and king
It is necessary to get the support by a piece or pieces to check mate the lonely king. By eliminating and the reducing the movable squares of that king, it is forced to go to the last rank or file where he has to take fully rest.
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If the king is flanked by the rooks or knights or both which are unable to protect the square just right in front of the king, we can see the beautiful check mate positions shown below. It is also possible to be caught in the corner flanked by a piece of same colour.
2. Mate by two rooks
The power of two rooks is enough to check mate the lonely king without any support from its own king. The check mate position shown below is called “Ra Htar Leim” in Myanmar Tradition Chess terms.
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When two rooks are placed double in the same rank of file, their power is unstoppable. The beautiful check mate position shown below is the example.
3. Mate by rook and knight
When the lonely king reaches the corner square, it is possible to check mate by the knight while the rook restricts the king’s movement.
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4. Mate by rook and elephant
Since the elephant has the power to control 3 front squares, it can take the king position to check mate the lonely king as shown below.
Elephant can also post a check mate on the opponent’s king of standing on the corner square right in front of it with the support by a rook.
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While the opponent king sitting on the last rank square to avoid the elephant’s tusks since the elephant has the weakness of not-able-to-control-the-back-square, the elephant needs the help from the king in order to check mate the opponent king.
5. Mate by rook and general
This position is very simple and similar to the position shown above, just changing the piece: general taking the elephant’s square.
6. Mate by elephant and king
Being able to control 3 front squares, the elephant can post a check mate position to the opponent king at the last rank by using the tusks. The king must be together with the elephant too.
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7. Mate by two elephants
Like the two rooks working together, two elephants are very strong while they are in good connection and making a combined attack against the opponent king. Some check mate positions are shown below.
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8. Mate by elephant and general
If the opponent king is hanging at his last rank, the operation is a lot easier. It can be seen in the below position.
It is also possible to check mate the opponent king who is trying hard to escape in the back of the elephant. It needs accurate calculation as well as patience.
9. Mate by elephant and knight
It looks not difficult to do, but it is necessary for moving the knight precisely to restrict the area of the opponent king. Once the king’s moves are limited, the final curtain is not far away.
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10. Mate by knight and general
Even in international chess where the bishops are able to move many squares diagonally, the experiences have shown us that many players are not able to check mate the opponent king within 50 moves. So the difficulty can be guessed how to get it done in Myanmar Traditional Chess where the general has only one diagonal move. But with the help of beautiful knight moves, the opponent king has to walk into the dead-end road of no return.
11. Mate by two knights
In fact, it is impossible to force the check mate against the lonely king by two knights. It cannot be found at the high level tournaments, but it can still happen at the low level games as well as blitz games.
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12. Mate by pawn
Supported by the other piece or pieces, pawn can also check mate the opponent king. It may not happen many times in actual play, it has the chances to appear depending on the positions. The king may be sad to get killed by the weakest piece on the board. Chess in a part of the human life and sometimes it can reflect the nature of the world.
They are the basic check mate positions and just to show as the examples. It can vary a little while playing the game. But it is useful for the players to know such samples so that they can drive or avoid on the board depending on which side they are standing
13. Summary of Check Mate Positions
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Chapter 9: Construction of The Check Mates
At a glance, check mates look easy to be performed. But under the time pressure, it is a hard work to do so within the limited number of moves. Even in the international chess on many occasions, bishop and knight cannot mate the opponent king within 50 moves and many games of this kind end up in draw. So it is definitely uphill-task for the players to check mate the opponent king with less powerful pieces of Myanmar Traditional Chess.
Then it is essential to learn and practice to mate with various forces. Some techniques are shown here as the examples and they are useful for the players to save the time as well as the moves.
It is possible to check mate in many positions. If the opponent king is in front of the elephant, the mate is easy to be done since the elephant can control the three front squares. An example can be seen below.
If the opponent king is not in the front, remember to drive the king to the corner where the general can check. It is very difficult to check mate in the tail side of the elephant, but the coming diagram shows the possibility to catch the king by accurate and beautiful combination of elephant and general.
(2)Red : U Soe Tint (AYEYARWADDY) Black : U Tun Tun (MANDALAY) 34th ISD Chess Tournament, Yangon.(25/10/2009)Red : Ka2 Gf3 Rc1,d1 Eb2,c2 Ne2,e3 Atwinn Sit Ke Hsin Shin Myinn Htup Mingyi PoneBlack : Kb7 Gc6 Re8,f8 Ec7,d6 Nb6,d7 Atwinn Sit Ke Myinn Hsett Hsin Hsett