On each die, the 1 represents a pawn, 2 a knight, 3 a bishop, 4 a rook, 5 a queen, and 6 a king.
A player who rolls doubles (the same number on both dice) may play any legal move.
[1] Anne Sunnucks writes that there is evidence from the literature of the period that dice were used to play chess in Europe between the 11th and 14th centuries, and even earlier in Burma and India.
The dice were thrown before each turn to determine the piece to be moved; the same numbering system as set forth above was used (1=pawn, 2=knight, etc.).
[4] In the Burmese form of the game, three dice were thrown and each player made three moves at a time.