Kirin (chess) Kirin (chess) A kirin is a fairy chess piece that moves as a ferz or a dabbaba. In notation, it is given the symbol FD. In this article, the kirin is represented by an inverted knight. The kirin is also known as giraffe ( ). The kirin appears under this name (Japanese: 麒麟, "kirin") in the 14th-century Japanese game of chu shogi, and also in many other shogi variants. It appears in Ralph Betza's Chess on a Really Big Board. It is approximately equal to a knight in value. Two kirins can force checkmate on a bare king without the
Shogi notation A piece that promotes is indicated with 成 following the piece's character, such as ７三桂成 (N-73+). If a piece does not promote, this is indicated with 不成 following the piece's character, such as ７三桂不成 (N-73=). There is an alternate symbol for unpromotion: 生 is sometimes used instead of 不成. Unlike western notation, numbering Japanese game records is not obligatory. Although players' moves often aren't numbered, shogi moves are always counted per player's move. This is commonly seen in checkmate problems where a "3-move" ３手 checkmate problem would mean a move sequence of black-white-black. This is unlike western chess which counts