Shogi Reborn: Mind's Gambit

When I first met him, I wondered why this person had come.

Haruo Oki—a rising star in the shogi world who swept through the Shōreikai with an undefeated record and broke a 30-year-old winning streak right after turning pro. Though the spotlight soon shifted to Master Kokuryu when he became the Dragon King, Oki's extraordinary strength was undeniable.

My father, a former student shogi champion, was a huge fan of Chairman Gekkou. He had even promised that I would become Chairman Gekkou's disciple when I was older. I, too, admired Chairman Gekkou, and Haruo Oki was one of his disciples.

I thought if I said, "My master must be an A-class player or a titleholder," maybe Chairman Gekkou himself would come. It was my indirect way of requesting him. But instead, his disciple arrived.

I was happy that someone even I had heard of came to be my teacher, but deep down, I still wished for Chairman Gekkou. In our first teaching match, he gave me a two-piece handicap with a rook and a bishop. I was confident that I could win even against a Meijin with such an advantage. But that day, I realized just how powerless my shogi was against a professional.

He took my major pieces again and again, defended against every attack, and when I tried one more time, he checkmated my king in an instant. I hadn't even realized my king had been in danger the whole time. I was so frustrated that, before I knew it, I was crying and ran away.

When I returned to my room, only my grandfather was there. I wanted to ask about everything—the fact that my shogi was self-taught, the inefficiency he had noticed, his connection to Chairman Gekkou, and why he had accepted this request. I had so many questions.

When I demanded to know why my grandfather had let him leave so soon, he handed me a message from my master:

"If you want to become strong, meet me tomorrow at 10 a.m. at JR Shin-Imamiya Station on the Loop Line."

The next day, I went to the station as instructed. My master was there, looking slightly pale. Apparently, if I hadn't shown up, he was planning to continue riding the loop line all the way to Fukushima Station. Then he spoke, his voice firm:

"I've decided to become your tutor. I'll make you into an undefeated... female professional shogi player?"

"Wait a second! Why did you sound so unsure at the end?"

"Well, at first, I wanted to say I'd make you an undefeated shogi player—it sounded cool, you know? But then I realized... as long as I'm around, you'll never actually be undefeated. So I changed it halfway through."

"You're not undefeated either! I will become one. I'll definitely become an undefeated shogi player!"

Once our lessons began, he insisted I call him Master. At the time, I didn't fully understand what he meant when he said I couldn't become an undefeated player as long as he existed. But now, I understand it all too well.

In the shogi gambling halls of Shinsekai, I learned traps, surprise tactics, and psychological strategies. Eventually, my master recommended online shogi to me. I had played online a few times before, but back then, my opponents all seemed to treat it like a casual game, and none of them were very strong.

However, the site my master introduced me to was different. Strong players sought out other strong opponents, hungry for points to prove their strength, endlessly fighting to claim them. On this site, I began playing multiple simultaneous matches.

Three boards, four boards, five boards… now I've reached the point where I can handle eight games at once. But with every additional board, the workload multiplies. If I waited until I saw each position before thinking, I'd run out of time and have no chance of winning. After all, my unseen opponents on the other side of the screen are focused solely on stealing my points.

That's why I had to think across multiple boards simultaneously, not just one. I knew that focus was crucial, so I desperately maintained my concentration. But as I got used to it, my focus started sustaining itself naturally. No, it became something more—I could read the boards without even trying to concentrate.

During this time, I met Hina Tsurugi Ai, a girl my age with the same name as me. She was the disciple of Master Kuzuryu. The moment I saw her, I felt she would become my rival. But when we actually played, I realized I was the stronger player. Yet, in our first match, I still lost to Ai. It was an unbelievable loss—a defeat by foul play that I still can't quite accept.

My master said he hadn't expected my simultaneous match training to yield results so quickly and kept apologizing. But this power is extraordinary. And even with this strength, online shogi showed me that there are still players above me. That's why I know—I can still become even stronger.

When I was struggling with seven simultaneous shogi games, I insisted on watching my master play multiple boards at once. At the time, I thought he might use his 8-dan account, but he explained that all his accounts had been flagged as using shogi software and subsequently deleted. He couldn't use them anymore.

So instead, my master played against the software itself—the same AI said to have surpassed human capabilities. He took on ten simultaneous games against it, pulling back his bishop in each match. I still vividly remember the shock I felt when he won on all ten boards. At that moment, countless thoughts raced through my mind.

My master might seem unreliable in day-to-day life, but in shogi, he is humanity's strongest player—so overwhelmingly strong that no one can stand beside him as an equal. That's why, I realized, he wanted a disciple early on. My master wanted to raise someone who could face him head-on at full strength.

Once I understood that, I began to see my master as a lonely figure. No one can match him, and that's why he's so dedicated to training me. I'm sure he feels lonely because of that. And so, I want to become strong enough to stand as his equal one day.

My name is Yashajin Ten'i. I'm a fourth grader. My dream is to one day defeat the greatest shogi master in history—my master.

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