Shogi prodigy Sota Fujii took another step Saturday toward his ultimate goal of winning all of the game's eight major titles by claiming his fifth, becoming the youngest player to do so, at age 19 and 6 months.
Fujii completed a sweep of 37-year-old Akira Watanabe in the best-of-seven Osho championship with his Game 4 victory in Tachikawa, western Tokyo, after entering the series in early January as the challenger.
He broke the previous record held by Yoshiharu Habu, who held five major titles in 1993 at age 22 and 10 months. Watanabe saw his number of titles fall to two.
Fujii has broken numerous records for his youth, turning pro at age 14 and 2 months and capturing his first major title, Kisei, in July 2020 at age 17 and 11 months.
Asked about his future when he won his third major, Eio, last September, Fujii said, "Winning all eight titles is not in my mind, but it would be an ideal result. The most important thing is how strong I can become."