KYODO NEWS - Jun 29, 2017 - 17:41 | Lifestyle, All

Shogi appears to have come easy to Sota Fujii, who recently set the all-time record with 29 consecutive professional wins, but the 14-year-old's rise in the highly competitive world of Japanese chess was anything but black and white.

The shogi prodigy's move into and through the professional ranks has set off an unprecedented craze in Japan, even among those unfamiliar with the traditional board game.

With Fujii's achievement, it appears a cloud has finally been lifted from over a shogi world that was rocked by allegations last fall that one of its top players used software assistance to cheat, although the player involved was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing.

Another story is now emerging as more professional shogi players, and also players of the ancient board game, go, unabashedly turn to technology to help them develop tactics -- a trend that many are concerned is problematic for the traditional roots of the games.

Like all aspiring shogi players, Fujii entered the "shorei-kai," a society under the Japan Shogi Association aimed at training young players on their path up the rankings, or dan as they are known, on their way to professional status as fourth dan.

Of the 29 players, including Fujii, who participated for the first time in third-dan tournaments from April to September last year, only two slots were opened to new professionals. Fujii himself was on the bubble -- with 12 wins and 5 losses he entered his final game needing to win to gain promotion.

Although he did win promotion, the junior high school student from Aichi Prefecture said, "I really felt how tough the shorei-kai was and I considered what would happen to me once I turn pro."

Even while Fujii was on a 20-game winning streak, he said he heard grumblings from a player in his 20s who questioned his abilities, saying, "Fujii lost five games in the third-dan tournaments. That's pitiful for a pro."

But after overcoming his rivals and making his breakthrough to the professional ranks, he was able to again find the joy of playing with a carefree attitude.

Such an innocent approach to shogi looked perhaps to be lost when Hiroyuki Miura, a highest-rank ninth-dan player, came under fire last October when he was accused by the association of using software assistance on his smartphone during official matches.

Many players were shaken to find the game under this unprecedented scrutiny. Indeed, professional shogi players almost uniformly voiced concerns that public trust in the game had been shattered.

But a third-party panel cleared Miura after an investigation found "no evidence of cheating," which in turn led to criticism of the association. It was right around this time that Fujii came into the spotlight. And the fresh air the young star breathed into the game proved enough to blow away the cloud hanging over it.

Den-osen (electronic king championship) matches, in which professionals play a computer opponent, have proved another threat to the game's future because the software has time and again proved too good for the professionals.

On May 20, grandmaster Amahiko Sato, 29, suffered his second consecutive humiliating defeat to a computer opponent named "PONANZA" over 94 moves. This followed the title holder's first 71-move loss in April.

Sato had in 2016 defeated Yoshiharu Habu, who currently holds three major crowns and is widely regarded as the game's top player, for his first career title, demonstrating the level at which the computerized players operate.

In head-to-head, man versus machine den-osen matches, professional shogi players recorded a sorry five win, one draw, 14-loss record.

PONANZA has seven consecutive wins against shogi professionals, but it is not the only game in which humans have been outperformed by high-tech opponents. In March, Yuta Iyama, owner of six go titles, was beaten by a computer.

The shogi association began organizing matches between top pros and AI opponents in 2012. A team of professionals exposed the software's weaknesses to take a 3-2 series victory for the first time in 2015, but shogi pros have been struggling against computer controlled opponents in individual matches almost ever since.

The prodigy Fujii himself has benefitted from training against computer opponents. He learned software-assisted training methods from Shota Chida, a 23-year-old sixth dan, to help him improve weaknesses at the start and middle sections of his game.

By pouring over software shogi puzzles, Fujii was able to augment his play with an outstanding endgame, leading to his monumental winning streak.

"He's complete, (he has) few flaws," said Habu, 46, a ninth dan who in 1996 was the first to sweep seven of shogi's major titles in one year.

Fujii's big break came in his pro debut on Dec. 24, 2016, with a victory over the 77-year-old Hifumi Kato, a ninth dan who was the oldest top-ranked player until his retirement earlier this month.

As the youngest pro in the game, Fujii demonstrated a cool demeanor beyond his years in front of a large media contingent against a legendary shogi master to etch his name in history.

Fujii's historic, record-breaking 29th consecutive win against 19-year-old Yasuhiro Masuda lasted over 11 hours, with shogi fans and others following his every move online, on TV and elsewhere. Ameba TV said there were 7.4 million total viewers on its shogi internet channel at the end of programming at 10:30 p.m.

According to a survey, the number of shogi players in 2013 was 6.70 million, a number that dropped to 5.30 million two years later. A professional shogi journal, which had been popular among fans, also ceased publication in March 2016, showing the falling interest in the game. But according to the shogi association, currently, an estimated 10 million adults and children play shogi across the nation.

Thanks to Fujii public interest has reignited shogi's waning popularity, drawing people young and old to the game, but whether the boom will be short-lived remains to be seen.

The game's young prodigy, however, has many moves ahead.