Japan's youngest professional shogi player, 14-year-old Sota Fujii, won his 28th straight match on Wednesday to equal the all-time winning streak in official matches of the traditional Japanese chess-like board game.

Fujii, a junior high school student who holds the fourth "dan," or rank, has been unbeaten since his pro debut in December. The shogi star is now on a par with Hiroshi Kamiya, a 56-year-old eighth-dan player, who set the same consecutive winning record in 1987.

"I really can't believe it. I was very lucky," Fujii said at a press conference after defeating 25-year-old Shingo Sawada, ranked sixth dan, in his latest make-or-break match during a preliminary round of a title tournament played in the western Japan city of Osaka.

It was their second match after a close game that ended in favor of Fujii.

What is Shogi?

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.

Shogi can trace its roots back hundreds of years, and is thought to have originated from a game played in India.

Professional shogi players and fans are now closely watching whether he will break the record in his next game on Monday. His opponent will be 19-year-old Yasuhiro Masuda, a fourth-dan player who won a tournament for young players below the sixth-dan in 2016.

"I would like to continue playing shogi as usual without being conscious about (setting) records)," Fujii said.

He and Masuda will face off as part of the prestigious Ryuo championship to challenge title holder Akira Watanabe, 33.

Fujii has not lost a match since his professional debut in December against 77-year-old Hifumi Kato, a ninth-dan player. His win came two months after he became the youngest professional player ever at the age of 14 years and two months.

His 47-year-old mother Yuko rejoiced at her son's victory. She said in a statement it is "simply marvelous for the winning streak to continue to 28."

Masataka Sugimoto, the boy's mentor and a seventh-dan player, also praised Fujii for "achieving a remarkable record."

A day before Fujii's historic match on Wednesday, Kato, one of the most famous shogi players in Japan, fell to 23-year-old fourth-dan Satoshi Takano. Kato retired after the match.

Kato, known as "Hifumin" by his fans started playing shogi 63 years ago and was a familiar face on TV.

Fujii has also raised the profile of shogi and inspired young people to play the board game.

Fujii began playing shogi at age 5, and after his late grandfather became no match for him, the boy started attending a shogi class in the neighborhood.

Rikio Fumimoto, who operates the shogi class in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, where Fujii studied the game until he was 10, said, "I don't think someone like him, with an unbeaten record since his debut, would appear again."

The 62-year-old Fumimoto also said he was looking forward to the boy's achievements from now.

Calling Fujii a "future superstar," the now co-record-holder Kamiya said, "I thought this day would come, but I never dreamed it would be someone who has been undefeated since his debut."

Shogi is similar to chess as its objective is to checkmate the opponent's king and players alternate in moving one piece at a time. It can be more complicated, though, because players can reuse pieces captured from their opponents and introduce them back into the game as their own pieces.