The Chess Variant Pages: Kira Chess/Kira Shogi (2025)

It is idea based on the Japanese "Death Note" show. There is two games, Kira Chess and Kira Shogi.

Pieces

Pieces and setup same as FIDE chess (for Kira Chess), or as shogi (for Kira Shogi).

Rules

Kira Chess:

1. You need to be able to distinguish all the pieces from each other, as each one is an individual.
2. Even in case of promotion, the piece retains its identity although it is a different kind of piece.
3. You need two decks of cards, one for each player, with the cards representing each piece on your side (sixteen cards in total per deck).
4. Each player shuffles his cards, draws eight cards, selects two of them and places them face-down in front of him (their locations must be distinguished as "L" and "Kira"), and discard the rest face-down.
5. Pieces designated by the cards are called "L" and "Kira". Your opponent will not necessarily know which pieces they are.
6. There is no check/mate; no restrictions on king moves, and castling into/out/through check.
7. Queen moves same as king but cannot castle. Pawn promoted into queen moves like FIDE queen.
8. Even if the king and/or rook is L or Kira they may still castle normally.
9. Kira loses its normal power of movement, and instead move/capture one space any direction.
10. L loses its normal power of movement, instead moving as a FIDE knight, but cannot capture (except certain circumstances; see below).
11. Any piece (yours or opponent's piece) which is adjacent to your Kira or has ever been adjacent to your Kira, is considered to be "seen" by Kira. They remain seen even if later promoted. Kira is always considered to have seen itself.
12. L and Kira, if pawns, may still promote although this promotion does not affect their identity or powers of movement.
13. Any player with no L and no Kira loses the game.
14. If L or Kira is captured (or dies, see below), then it is revealed to both players that it is.
15. If your Kira is still on the board, you may, as a turn, set up a piece "seen" by your Kira to die. Write in secret on which move, the designated piece will die. The piece dies at the end of the designated move, and you are not allowed to designate your current turn as the move on which it will die. A piece killed in this way is removed from the game permanently, and will still be killed even if it promotes or if the Kira which killed it is no longer on the board at this time.
16. If your L is still on the board, as a turn you may reveal which of your pieces is L, and declare that you are going to try to capture your opponent's Kira with it. If your opponent's Kira is a knight's move away or one space orthogonally away, then your L moves there and captures it, and then you get another turn (which counts as part of the same turn for Kira's timer); if your opponent has no L then it counts as a double win. If there is not opponent's Kira in range, then you lose your turn.
17. If your opponent's L dies at the end of one of your turns, due to your Kira's timer, then you get an extra move (counts as part of the same turn for Kira's timer); if your opponent has no Kira then it counts as a double win.

Kira Shogi:

1. You need to be able to distinguish all the pieces from each other, as each one is an individual.
2. Even in case of promotion or being captured, the piece retains its identity although it may have different movements/owners.
3. You need two decks of cards, one for each player, with the cards representing each piece on your side (twenty cards in total per deck).
4. Each player shuffles his cards, draws ten cards, selects two of them and places them face-down in front of him (their locations must be distinguished as "Ｌ" and "キラ"), and discard the rest face-down.
5. Pieces designated by the cards are called "Ｌ" and "キラ". Your opponent will not necessarily know which pieces they are.
6. There is no check/mate; the 王將 and 玉將 is just like a normal piece.
7. キラ loses its normal power of movement, and instead move/capture one space any direction.
8. Ｌ loses its normal power of movement, instead moving as a FIDE knight, but cannot capture (except certain circumstances; see below).
9. Any piece (yours or opponent's piece) which is adjacent to your キラ or has ever been adjacent to your キラ, is considered to be "seen" by キラ. They remain seen even if later promoted, captured, dropped becoming the other player's piece, etc. キラ is always considered to have seen itself.
10. Ｌ and キラ may still promote although this promotion does not affect their identity or powers of movement.
11. Any player with no Ｌ and no キラ loses the game.
12. If Ｌ or キラ is captured (or dies, see below), then it is revealed to both players that it is, and it is removed from the game permanently (cannot be redropped onto the board).
13. If your キラ is still on the board, you may, as a turn, set up a piece "seen" by your キラ to die. Write in secret on which move, the designated piece will die. The piece dies at the end of the designated move, and you are not allowed to designate your current turn as the move on which it will die. A piece killed in this way is removed from the game permanently, and will still be killed even if it promotes, or is captured and available to drop in hand, or changes sides, or if the キラ which killed it is no longer on the board at this time.
14. If your Ｌ is still on the board, as a turn you may reveal which of your pieces is Ｌ, and declare that you are going to try to capture your opponent's キラ with it. If your opponent's キラ is a (FIDE) knight's move away or one space orthogonally away, then your Ｌ moves there and captures it, and then you get another turn (which counts as part of the same turn for キラ's timer); if your opponent has no Ｌ then it counts as a double win. If there is not opponent's キラ in range, then you lose your turn.
15. If your opponent's Ｌ dies at the end of one of your turns due to your キラ's timer, then you get an extra move (counts as part of the same turn for キラ's timer); if your opponent has no キラ then it counts as a double win.
16. For purpose of rule preventing two of 歩兵 in same column, the キラ and Ｌ does not count as 歩兵.
17. It is forbidden to place a æ­©å…µ on the board to pictorial checkmate.

Notes

The idea of L being able to not capture anything other than opponent's Kira, is my brother's idea. It is my own idea making L moves as FIDE knight, which is often described as a "L shape".

Proper vocabulary may be "killing" for the death note, "capturing" for regular chess captures, and "eliminating" when not making the distinction.

Subvariant (for both games; replaces rule 16 of Kira Chess and rule 14 of Kira Shogi):

• If your L is still on the board, you can select one of your opponent's pieces which is targetable by your L. If it is Kira, then your L must capture it. If it is not Kira, then you lose your turn. (Rules about double wins and extra moves same as above)