The fourth round of one of the eight major shogi titles, the "Shogi Oh Match," will begin in Tochigi Prefecture, and it will be interesting to see if Sota Fujii (1) will become the youngest player in history to win the title and achieve the "Six Crowns," or if Akira Watanabe (4), who is aiming to win his 20th consecutive "Shogi Championship," will bring it to the final round.
The fourth stage of the "Shogi Championship" was set up at a hotel in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, and after Fujii Gokaku entered the room, Watanabe Nikaku sat in front of the board.
The game started at 9 a.m., and when Watanabe Futaka (the first player) took a step ahead of the flying car, the second hander, Fujii Gokaku, moved the step in the same way as he had a sip of tea, and then exchanged the "horns" of the large pieces and proceeded to assemble the pieces with each other.
Fujii Five Crowns currently holds five titles: Ryuou, Throne, Eio, Ōshō, and Kisei, and has successfully defended all of them so far.
If he wins the match on the 5th and wins the "Shogi Championship", he will become the second player in history to win the "Six Crowns" since Zenji Hanyu (19) achieved it in December 52, and also broke the record for the youngest player.
Watanabe, on the other hand, has been defending his title since winning his first "Shogi Championship" 1994 years ago, and this time his 12th consecutive title is at stake.
In the "Shogi Championship" 2th match, Fujii Gokaku won two consecutive matches to win the title, and Watanabe won the third round to stay in the fourth round on the 3th.
Whether Fujii becomes the youngest player in history to win six crowns, or Watanabe's double crown is expected to be decided in the afternoon of the 19th.