6 Best Chess Anime You Need to Watch

In today’s article, we are bringing you anime that include chess in their plot. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of anime that include chess. To be honest, even on our list, only three anime really include chess. There are lists that say there are more chess anime, but believe me, there are not.

Chess is not a popular game in the east, and that is the main reason you can’t find it often in anime. That said, in Japan, Shogi and Go are somehow similar games to chess and are much more popular. So, we have decided to instead include three more anime that include Shogi or Go in their plot.

In any case, all six anime on our list are pretty good, so even if you choose anime that doesn’t include chess you won’t go wrong. Check them out below and choose your next watch.

Code Geass (2006–2008)

The series is set in an alternate history where the world is divided into three superpowers: Britain, the Chinese Federation and the European Union. The Holy British Empire conquered Japan on August 10, 2010 with the help of a new secret weapon, the “Autonomous Armored Knight”, known as the “Knightmare Frame”. Britain then deprives Japan and its inhabitants of all rights and freedoms, and renames the area Area 11.

Lelouch Lamperouge, an intelligent British prince in exile, is sent as a bargaining chip to Japan along with his sister Nunnally Lamperouge on the orders of his father, King Charles of Britain, after his mother, Marianne of Britain, is murdered. Because of her death, Nunnally lost her sight and the ability to walk. After the war, Lelouch promises his Japanese friend Suzaku Kururugi that one day he will destroy Britain.

Seven years later, Lelouch finds himself in the middle of a terrorist attack and meets a girl, C.C., who saves him from the British guards. She makes a deal with him: Lelouch will receive a mysterious power known as “Geass”. This power gives him the ability to command anyone to once do what he asks, be it to give up the will to live, to fight, or to die – but only with the help of direct eye contact.

After killing the British guards with the help of his new power, Lelouch decides to use Geass to find out who killed his mother and make a better world for his sister. Lelouch thus becomes the leader of a resistance movement known as the Black Knights under the alias Zero, and gains popularity with the Japanese public for his rebellion.

Charles, who also possesses Geass, erases his memory of everything at the end of the first season, but Lelouch regains his memories and becomes Zero again in the second season, and creates a new country: the United States of Japan.

No Game, No Life (2014)

Sora and Shiro are two hikikomori step-siblings who are known in the online gaming world as Blank, an undefeated group of gamers. One day, they are challenged to a game of chess by Tet, a god from another reality. The two are victorious and are offered to live in a world that centers around games. They accept, believing it to be a joke, and are summoned to a reality known as Disboard.

There, a spell known as the Ten Pledges prevents the citizens of Disboard from inflicting harm on one another, forcing them to resolve their differences by gambling with games whose rules and rewards are magically enforced. In-game, rule enforcement only occurs when the method of cheating is acknowledged and outed by the opponent, allowing players to cheat through discreet methods. Sora and Shiro traverse to Elkia, the nation inhabited by humans, and befriend the duchess Stephanie Dola.

Learning about Elkia’s decline, the two participate in a tournament to determine the next ruler; after winning the crown, they earn the right to challenge the Disboard’s other species as humanity’s representative. Their next goal is to conquer all sixteen species in order to challenge Tet to a game; as of the sixth volume, five of the sixteen are under their control.

Death Note (2006–2007)

The story follows Light Yagami, a teen genius who discovers a mysterious notebook: the “Death Note”, which belonged to the shinigami Ryuk, and grants the user the supernatural ability to kill anyone whose name is written on its pages.

The series centers around Light’s subsequent attempts to use the Death Note to carry out a worldwide massacre of individuals whom he deems immoral and to create a crime-free society, using the alias of a god-like vigilante named “Kira”, and the subsequent efforts of an elite Japanese police task force, led by enigmatic detective L, to apprehend him.

The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done! (2018)

Yaichi Kuzuryū is a prodigy shogi player who won the title of Ryūō at the age of 16. Following his victory, he has been in a slump until he is approached by Ai Hinatsuru, a 9-year-old elementary school girl who begs him to make her his disciple.

Astonished by Ai’s potential, Yaichi agrees to become her master, and the two then brace themselves together in the world of shogi with their friends and rivals. However, this comes with the condition imposed by Ai’s mother that Yaichi is to marry Ai if she does not become a major player before graduating from middle school.

Hikaru no Go (2001–2003)

The story follows Hikaru who discovers one day in his grandfather’s attic a Go board. The object turns out to be haunted by a ghost named Sai, the emperor’s former go teacher in the Heian era. Sai finds himself trapped in Hikaru’s mind and gradually gives him a taste for go.

March Comes in Like a Lion (2016–2018)

The town where the main character Rei Kiriyama lives is set in Shinkawa which is situated along Tokyo’s Sumida River. The Kawamoto family’s home is set in Tsukuda which is connected to the town Rei lives in through the Chuo bridge. The shogi hall of the manga is set in the Sendagaya area and it resembles the headquarters of the Japanese Shogi Association that is situated there.

Rei Kiriyama’s parents and younger sister died in an accident in his childhood. He then started living with the family of Masachika Kōda who was a friend of his father. Reaching adulthood, Rei left his foster family thinking he was only causing trouble.

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He now lives alone and has few friends. Among his acquaintances are three sisters of the Kawamoto family—Akari, Hinata, and Momo. As the story progresses, Rei deals with his maturation both as a professional shogi player and as a person, all the while strengthening his relationships with others, particularly the Kawamoto sisters.