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Shogi 2002 in Review
By Galo S Mirth

The 2002 shogi season (April 2002 to March 2003, following Japanese convention) was a year of clear turning points. A new Meijin was crowned in decisive fashion, major titles moved between the familiar giants, and end of year results again left Yoshiharu Habu holding the game’s richest prize. Meanwhile, the annual awards highlighted both elite consistency and a quirky opening idea that was memorable enough to be recognized by name.

Here is a compact tour of 2002, using Japanese records and summaries.

1) A new Meijin in four straight: Toshiyuki Moriuchi breaks through

The headline of the spring was the 60th Meijin (第60期名人戦). Toshiyuki Moriuchi (森内俊之) won the title by defeating defending Meijin Tadahisa Maruyama (丸山忠久) 4-0. A sweep at this level is rare and it changes how a whole season feels. It signals not just a win, but a moment when preparation, confidence, and match control all lined up at once.

2) Early summer change: Yasumitsu Sato becomes Kisei

The 73rd Kisei (棋聖戦) also brought a new champion. Yasumitsu Sato (佐藤康光) defeated defending champion Masataka Goda (郷田真隆) 3-2 to win his first Kisei title. Five game matches are short enough that one missed chance matters, but long enough that the winner usually shows more than one plan.

3) The mid year reversal: Tanigawa retakes Oi from Habu

In the 43rd Oi (王位戦), Koji Tanigawa (谷川浩司) took the title from Habu by 4-1. The scoreline matters because it was not a coin flip. It was a firm statement that Tanigawa could still seize control of a top match even in an era where Habu’s consistency often felt inevitable.

4) One title stays put: Habu extends his Oza streak

Not everything moved. In the 50th Oza (王座戦), Habu defended the title by beating Sato 3-0. This was the kind of result that kept the year from feeling like a clean changing of the guard. Even as crowns shifted elsewhere, Habu’s grip on Oza remained strong.

5) The late year centerpiece: Habu survives a full seven game Ryu o

The 15th Ryu o (竜王戦) went the distance. Habu defended by 4-3 against Takashi Abe (阿部隆). A 4-3 defense is the most honest kind of dominance: the champion is still champion, but only by solving the hardest problems under maximum pressure.

6) Winter crowns: Habu takes Osho, Maruyama takes Kio

The season’s winter matches gave two more clear results. Habu won the 52nd Osho (王将戦) by defeating Sato 4-0. And in the 28th Kio (棋王戦), Maruyama defended successfully against Habu by 3-2, earning his first Kio title.

Major title match winners for the 2002 season (April 2002 to March 2003).
- Meijin: Toshiyuki Moriuchi (森内俊之)
- Kisei: Yasumitsu Sato (佐藤康光)
- Oi: Koji Tanigawa (谷川浩司)
- Oza: Yoshiharu Habu (羽生善治)
- Ryu o: Yoshiharu Habu (羽生善治)
- Osho: Yoshiharu Habu (羽生善治)
- Kio: Tadahisa Maruyama (丸山忠久)
7) What the awards said about 2002: results, ideas, and the rise of new names

The annual Shogi Awards (将棋大賞) are useful because they tell you what insiders thought mattered, not just who won what. For the 30th awards (covering the 2002 season), Habu was named Most Outstanding Player (最優秀棋士賞). Moriuchi received the Technique Award (技能賞), and the Rookie Award (新人賞) went to Akira Watanabe (渡辺明), an early sign of the generation that would soon reshape the top ranks.

The most colorful item on the list was the Masuda Kozo Award (升田幸三賞), given to Koichi Kodama (児玉孝一) for Kani Kani Gin (カニカニ銀). Whether you love or hate its look, it captures an idea that keeps returning in shogi theory: sometimes the fastest path to safety is an active, oddly shaped development that invites a fight on your own terms.

Closing thought

If 2001 felt like the title picture tightening, 2002 felt like it snapping into new positions. Moriuchi’s sweep in the Meijin was the clearest signal, but the rest of the season still revolved around the same central gravity: Habu’s ability to survive long matches, win short ones, and end the year holding the biggest trophy even when other crowns changed hands.

Sources (Japanese)
- Wikipedia (日本語): 「2002年度の将棋界」 (oldid 106886866). https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2002%E5%B9%B4%E5%BA%A6%E3%81%AE%E5%B0%86%E6%A3%8B%E7%95%8C&oldid=106886866 (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): 「カニカニ銀」 (oldid 93197310). https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8B%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8B%E9%8A%80&oldid=93197310 (accessed 2026-02-14)
- 日本将棋連盟（アーカイブ）: 「2002年度棋士成績一覧」(Web Archive). https://web.archive.org/web/20030415235937/http://www.shogi.or.jp/kisen/2002kiroku/kozin.html (accessed 2026-02-14)
December 30, 2002
Shogi 2001 in Review
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.

Major title match winners for the 2001 season (April 2001 to March 2002). Diagram by Galo S Mirth. License: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication).

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)
December 30, 2001
Shogi 2000 in Review
By Galo S Mirth

It is tempting to describe professional shogi in 2000 as “the usual suspects”. Yoshiharu Habu (羽生善治) was still the gravitational center of the title scene, and Takeshi Fujii (藤井猛) still wore the Ryuou crown. But if you look closely at the year, the storyline is less about permanence and more about pressure: challengers finally breaking through, champions defending by the thinnest margins, and new ideas on the board that hinted at where modern shogi was heading.

Here is a tour of the most interesting shogi events of 2000, as seen through Japanese records and reporting.

1) A new Meijin: Tadahisa Maruyama breaks through

The Meijin is often treated as the season’s “main” title because it is the end point of the long Junisen league system (名人戦・順位戦). In 2000, the biggest headline was a changing of the guard: Tadahisa Maruyama (丸山忠久) won the 58th Meijin title, defeating Yasuharu Sato (佐藤康光) 4-3 and becoming Meijin for the first time.

For fans, that mattered for more than just the trophy. It signaled that the top tier was not locked into one pattern. A challenger could still land the final punch, even in a match that goes the distance.

2) Habu’s summer and autumn: regain one crown, defend two more

If Maruyama provided the shock of the year, Habu provided the through-line. In the 71st Kisei (棋聖戦), Habu took the title from Koji Tanigawa (谷川浩司) by a 3-2 score, a reminder that even a short match can demand both preparation and nerve.

Then came a pair of defenses that reinforced just how narrow the gap was at the top. Habu defended the Oi (王位戦) against Tanigawa 4-3, and later defended the Ouza (王座戦) against Ryuou holder Fujii 3-2. The common theme was not domination; it was endurance. Three high stakes match formats, three different opponents, and multiple matches decided only at the last possible game.

3) The late-year climax: Fujii holds the Ryuou

The calendar-year finish belonged to the Ryuou (竜王戦). The 13th Ryuou title match ran deep into December and ended on December 25-26, with Fujii defending his title against Habu 4-3.

It is hard to overstate how “2000” that feels as a finale. The year ended with a full-length, swingy championship match between two players whose names already defined an era. Fujii’s successful defense also kept the title scene tangled, because it meant the same core names would keep intersecting in different matchups as the next season began.

4) Innovation on the board: the Millennium Castle enters the conversation

Results tell you who won. Openings and structures tell you what the whole community was wrestling with.

A memorable strategic story around this period was the rise of the Millennium Castle (ミレニアム囲い), a defensive setup associated with the static rook side in games against furibisha (振り飛車). The name itself captured the moment. Around 2000, professionals began to adopt and refine it consciously, and it became one of the era’s shorthand terms for “we need new answers”.

Even if you do not memorize the exact shape, the idea is easy to appreciate: shogi’s meta does not move only because computers say so (that would come later). It moves because elite players feel pressure in their hands, in real matches, and start searching for formations that buy time and reduce risk in the lines that are currently hurting them.

5) What the awards said about the year

The annual Shogi Awards (将棋大賞) are not perfect as history, but they are useful as a snapshot of what stood out to insiders at the time. In the 2000 awards list, Habu was recognized as the most outstanding player, while Maruyama’s year showed up in the statistical categories such as most wins. Taken together, they summarize 2000 nicely: a year where one superstar still anchored the scene, but another player forced his way into the center of the story.

Closing thought

In hindsight, 2000 reads like a bridge year. The title landscape was still defined by names that dominated the late 1990s, but the margins were razor thin and the door was visibly open. A new Meijin, multiple last-game title matches, and fresh defensive ideas were all signals that the millennium did not reset shogi, but it did raise the stakes.

Sources (Japanese)
- 日本将棋連盟: 名人戦・順位戦（過去の結果に第58期名人戦の結果あり）: https://www.shogi.or.jp/match/junni/index.html
- 日本将棋連盟: 第71期棋聖戦（五番勝負）: https://www.shogi.or.jp/match/kisei/71/hon.html
- 日本将棋連盟: 第41期王位戦（七番勝負）: https://www.shogi.or.jp/match/oui/41/hon.html
- 日本将棋連盟: 第48期王座戦（五番勝負）: https://www.shogi.or.jp/match/ouza/48/hon.html
- 日本将棋連盟: 第13期竜王戦（七番勝負）: https://www.shogi.or.jp/match/ryuuou/13/hon.html
- 日本将棋連盟: 将棋大賞受賞者一覧: https://www.shogi.or.jp/player/winner03.html
- Wikipedia（日本語）: 2000年度の将棋界: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000年度の将棋界
- Wikipedia（日本語）: ミレニアム囲い: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ミレニアム囲い
December 30, 2000