Shogi prodigy Sota Fujii took another step Saturday toward his ultimate goal of winning all of the board game's eight major titles by claiming his fifth as the youngest player in history at age 19 and 6 months.
Fujii completed a sweep of 37-year-old Akira Watanabe in the best-of-seven Osho championship with Game 4 victory in Tachikawa, western Tokyo, after entering the series in early January as the challenger.
He broke the previous youngest record held by Yoshiharu Habu, who held five major titles in 1993 at age 22 and 10 months. Watanabe saw the number of his titles go down to two.
Fujii also became only the fourth shogi player to have held five titles simultaneously, following Yasuharu Oyama, Makoto Nakahara and Habu.
"The results have been too good to be true for my ability," Fujii said of having five titles. "I would like to improve my game to deserve that."
Fujii has broken numerous youngest records, turning pro at 14 and 2 months and capturing his first major title, Kisei, in July 2020 at 17 and 11 months.
Asked about his future when Fujii won his third major, Eio, last September, the humble youngster said, "Winning all eight titles is not in my mind, but it would be an ideal state. The most important thing is how strong I can become."
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