By Galo S Mirth
After a dramatic changing of the guard in 2000, the next season kept the title picture in motion. The 2001 season (April 2001 to March 2002, following Japanese convention) featured a Meijin match that went the distance again, a mid-year crown changing hands, and a late-year surge that left Yoshiharu Habu holding a familiar cluster of trophies. Meanwhile, annual awards highlighted both elite consistency and the kind of new ideas that keep opening theory alive.
Here is a compact tour of 2001, using Japanese records and summaries.
1) Another seven-game Meijin: Maruyama defends by the narrowest margin
The Meijin remains the title most tightly connected to long-form league results, and in 2001 it again ended in a full seven games. Tadahisa Maruyama (丸山忠久) successfully defended the 59th Meijin title against Koji Tanigawa (谷川浩司) by 4-3.
It is easy to remember winners and forget the scorelines, but a 4-3 defense matters. It tells you the gap at the very top was not wide. Even champions were living on precision and nerve.
2) A shift in early summer: Masataka Goda takes the Kisei
The 72nd Kisei (棋聖戦) brought a title change: Masataka Goda (郷田真隆) defeated defending champion Habu by 3-2. Five-game matches are short enough that preparation has to be sharp from move one, and long enough that a single swing game can redefine the whole story.
3) Habu’s mid-year control: Oi and Oza stay put
Even with a crown slipping away, Habu steadied the center of the title scene. In the 42nd Oi (王位戦), he won 4-0 against Nobuyuki Yashiki (屋敷伸之). In the 49th Oza (王座戦), he defended 3-1 against Toshiaki Kubo (久保利明). Together, those results made the season feel less like a reshuffle and more like a tightening spiral around the same leading names.
4) The calendar-year climax: a Ryu-o comeback
The late-year headline was the 14th Ryu-o (竜王戦). Habu won the title by 4-1 against reigning Ryu-o Takeshi Fujii (藤井猛). In one match, the season’s balance changed: the player who began the year as a challenger in one place ended it reclaiming the game’s richest crown.
5) The winter titles: Sato breaks through, and the rivalry continues
The season also included a key first: Yasumitsu Sato (佐藤康光) won the 51st Osho (王将戦), defeating Habu 4-2 for his first Osho title. Not long after, Habu defended the 27th Kio (棋王戦) against Sato by 3-1, a reminder that these matchups were becoming a recurring engine of top-level shogi.
6) What the awards said about 2001
The annual Shogi Awards (将棋大賞) act like a snapshot of what stood out to insiders at the time. In the 29th awards (covering the 2001 season), Habu was named Most Outstanding Player. The list also pointed to a deeper story: Masataka Goda (Distinguished Performance) and Yasumitsu Sato (Technique) were recognized for their impact, while Kazuki Kimura (木村一基) swept several statistical categories (most games, most wins, best winning percentage). Finally, the Masuda Kozo Award (升田幸三賞) went to Masakazu Kondo (近藤正和) for the development of Gokigen Central Rook (ゴキゲン中飛車), an opening idea that captured the mood of that era: take the initiative early, and make the fight happen on your terms.
Closing thought
If 2000 felt like a door opening, 2001 felt like the room filling up. Champions defended by one game, challengers broke through, and the awards underlined how both results and ideas were moving at the same time. The season did not belong to one player alone, but it did show how quickly the title landscape can swing when preparation, confidence, and invention align.
Sources (Japanese)
- Wikipedia (日本語): 「2001年度の将棋界」 (oldid 106886762). https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2001%E5%B9%B4%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%AE%E5%B0%86%E6%A3%8B%E7%95%8C&oldid=106886762 (accessed 2026-02-14)
- 日本将棋連盟: 「将棋大賞 受賞者一覧」. https://www.shogi.or.jp/player/winner03.html (accessed 2026-02-14)
- Wikipedia (日本語): 「ゴキゲン中飛車」 (oldid 105513818). https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E3%82%B4%E3%82%AD%E3%82%B2%E3%83%B3%E4%B8%AD%E9%A3%9B%E8%BB%8A&oldid=105513818 (accessed 2026-02-14)