TOKYO -- Rising shogi star Sota Fujii won the Asahi Cup for the second consecutive year on Feb. 16 by defeating Akira Watanabe, who holds the lifetime Kio title, in a match held in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.

Seventh-dan Fujii, 16, was exempted from the elimination round before he felled eighth-dan Akira Inaba, 30, and eighth-dan Tetsuro Itodani, 30, in the main round. He beat eighth-dan Hisashi Namekata, 45, in the semifinal before facing Watanabe, 34.

(Japanese original by Susumu Maruyama, Cultural News Department)