The winner looked pale. I couldn't find any joy in him even though Fujii Sota had just become the first professional Shogi player with all eight major titles at last. Since July 2020, he has won all eighteen major title matches that he anticipated.

What made him such a strong Shogj player?

First of all, he plays very well in the final stages of the games. He is probably the best at solving checkmate puzzles. He has won the puzzle championship five times. He was an elementary school student when he won it for the first time! That was one of the reasons why he won the game yesterday. The champion still had 30 minutes of thinking time when he used up his thinking time. The champion tried to finish his rounds as quickly as possible to avoid giving the challenger extra time.

He was relatively weak in the early stages of the game. However, he overcame this with the help of the AI. He also has good luck. Someone says that he often gets the right to the first move, which is an advantage in the game, even though it is decided by Firigoma like a coin flip.

Above all, he loves to play Shogi. To him, the pursuit of Shogi's truth seems more important than winning. He was asked, "What would you ask the God of Shogi if you could?" at a Shogi event. He replied, "I would like to ask God to play a game." not "Please make me a stronger Shogi player."

八冠独占

勝者は青ざめて見えた。藤井竜王・名人はついに初の八冠達成者になったにもかかわらず、喜びはどこにも見えなかった。2020年7月以来、彼は出場した18の主要タイトル戦に全て勝利してきた。

何が彼をこんなにも強くしたのか。

まず第一に彼は非常に高い終盤力をもっている。彼は詰将棋ではおそらく最強だろう。彼は詰将棋選手権を５連覇している。最初に優勝したのは小学生のときだった。このことは昨日の対戦に勝てた理由の一つだろう。藤井挑戦者が考慮時間を使い切ったとき、永瀬王座はまだ30分残していた。永瀬王座はできるだけ自分の手番を早く済ませて、藤井挑戦者に考える時間を与えないようにしていた。

彼は序盤を比較的苦手としていた。しかし、AIの助けも借りて、克服した。彼は幸運でもある。彼は若干有利である先手番をよく引くと言われている。コイントスによく似た振り駒で決めるのだが。

何よりも、彼は将棋が好きだ。彼にとっては、勝つよりも将棋の真理を追究するほうが大事であるようだ。「将棋の神様がいるとすれば、何をお願いするのか」とイベントで質問されて、彼は「１局お手合わせ願いたい」と答えた。「もっと将棋を強くしてくだい」ではないそうだ。