The day before he played the match of his life, Shoji Segawa was swimming in a pool and enjoying the night view from his 40, yen room in the How much money do professional shogi players make Tower Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. Shoji Segawa — debuts Dec. Indulging in luxurious treatment before important games had become something of a ritual for the year-old systems engineer from Yokohama. Shogi, which is believed to have been imported from China more than 1, years ago, resembles chess. Unlike chess, players can use the pieces they take from opponents as their own and can promote the rank of their pieces. Segawa, who started playing at age 10, passed an examination to join the elite society when he was 14 but had to resign at age 26 because he could not clear the hurdle to become pro. Members of the association professiinal achieve fourth-rank status by the time they turn 26 by winning competitions provessional third-rank members. Each year, only four members of the society, which currently has males and one female, can turn professional. In despair, he threw away the records of more than matches he played as a society member over those 12 years. One year later, inhe entered Kanagawa University.
Japan’s youngest professional shogi player, year-old Sota Fujii, set the all-time record for most consecutive wins on Monday, continuing a winning streak that has reignited public interest in the traditional board game. Fujii, a junior high school student, defeated fellow fourth-dan player Yasuhiro Masuda, 19, in first round of the prestigious Ryuo Championship finals at the Shogi Kaikan hall in Tokyo, staying unbeaten in 29 official matches since his pro debut match in December. His first win of the streak came against the oldest top-ranked player, Hifumi Kato. I was very lucky,» Fujii said, retaining his calm demeanor after Monday’s historic game that lasted over 11 hours while shogi fans and others followed every move online, on TV and elsewhere. Fujii, who holds the fourth «dan,» or rank, broke the record of 28 consecutive wins set in by Hiroshi Kamiya, a year-old eighth-dan player. Professionals are ranked between fourth dan, the lowest, and ninth dan, the highest. Fujii just last Wednesday registered his 28th win against year-old Shingo Sawada, a sixth dan, to tie the previous all-time winning streak. With the record on the line in Monday’s match, Fujii and Masuda faced off in hopes of going on to challenge Ryuo title holder Akira Watanabe, Shogi, sometimes referred to as «Japanese chess,» is a board game for two players, in which the object is to use your 20 pieces to capture your opponent’s king. The game is popular in Japan, with an estimated 20 million people able to play and a professional association running major tournaments throughout the year. The Ryuo title is one of the eight contested by professional shogi players. The winner of the Ryuo tournament final takes home the largest prize purse of the year, around The current level of interest in shogi has not been seen since when Yoshiharu Habu made a clean sweep to hold all seven top shogi titles at once. Habu, 46, a ninth dan, retains three of the titles and remains one of the most famous shogi players. Last October, Fujii became the youngest professional player ever at the age of 14 years and 2 months. Two months later, he beat year-old Kato, a ninth-dan player, in his professional debut. Kato, meanwhile, retired last Tuesday after he lost to year-old fourth-dan Satoshi Takano, putting an end to a career spanning 63 years.
TOKYO (10 p.m.)
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How to Play Japanese Chess — Shogi
Shogi is said to be derived from the game of chaturanga, played in ancient India, which became the ancestor of chess in the West. The game is played by two players using a board with a rectangular grid. Each player has a set of twenty-seven pieces including kings, rooks, a bishop, gold and silver generals, knights, lances, and pawns. The pieces are differentiated by size and by Chinese characters painted on their backs. The oldest document referring to shogi dates from the tenth century. After the Meiji Restorationthe title of Meijin was no longer hereditary, but was instead conferred by recommendation. Inthe title of Meijin began to be conferred based on ability demonstrated at tournaments. Shogi players are ranked in a system of dan and kyu similar to that used in the martial arts. The fact that the shogi pieces are differentiated with Chinese characters has impeded the spread of the game to other countries, but it has recently become popular in the Peoples Republic of China. Shogi is said to be derived from the game of chaturanga played in ancient India, which spread throughout the continent of Eurasia, developing into a variety of related games. It is not clear when shogi was brought to Japan. There are several theories about when shogi spread to Japan, but the earliest plausible date is around the sixth century.
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