Souta Fujii succeeded in defending and decided to be promoted to 9th rank, the youngest in history

Souta Fujii is the challenger, Watanabe Defeat the Meijin. We succeeded in defending Kisei with three consecutive victories. With this, Kisei Fujii won the title for the third term together with the throne, and when he met the conditions, he was promoted to 9th dan. The 9-dan promotion at 18 years and 11 months is the youngest record in history.

Souta Fujii Kisei VS Akira Watanabe Master 92nd Hulic Cup Kisei Match 5th Match 3rd Station Souta Fujii Kisei Defenses | Shogi News | Japan Shogi Association

Fujii Kisei won the first title by defeating Akira Watanabe (at that time) with 3 wins and 1 loss in the 91st Hulic Cup Kisei Match in 2020. Winning the title at 17 years and 11 months was the youngest record in history.

Furthermore, in August 2020, he won the 61st title match, which challenged Kazuki Kimura to the throne, four times in a row, and won the second title.

In the 92nd Kisei Match, Fujii Kisei was challenged by Akira Watanabe. In the fifth game, Kisei Fujii won two games first and reached the third station.

Before the game, Kisei Fujii had forgotten the folding fan at the hotel, and there was no suitable alternative folding fan, and he had to use the folding fan for the Numazu Imperial Villa, which was the venue.

After the lunch break , the battle took a long time, with it taking a total of two hours or more for Kisei Fujii and Meijin Watanabe to point one move each.

Hulic Cup Kisei Match broadcast plus: Meijin Watanabe sinks into long thoughts
https://kifulog.shogi.or.jp/kisei/2021/07/post-2762.html

While the time spent by Kisei Fujii was a little long, Meijin Watanabe stepped in.

Hulic Cup Kisei Match broadcast plus: Master Watanabe steps in
https://kifulog.shogi.or.jp/kisei/2021/07/post-d324.html

At the end of the game, Kisei Fujii used up his time to become a 1-minute shogi, and then Meijin Watanabe also became a 1-minute shogi.

Hulic Cup Kisei Match broadcast plus: Both enter 1 minute shogi
https://kifulog.shogi.or.jp/kisei/2021/07/post-7a95.html

At the end, Meijin Watanabe finished, and Kisei Fujii succeeded in defending.

Hulic Cup Kisei Match Broadcast plus: Fujii Kisei defends
https://kifulog.shogi.or.jp/kisei/2021/07/post-59f6.html

The state of the press conference after the war looks like the following.

Q: Q:
How do you feel about the defense?

Fujii Kisei:
In the Kisei match, we welcomed Meijin Watanabe as a challenger, and I thought it would be the fifth match, which can be said to be a challenge for me. I am glad that I was able to achieve the result of defense.

Q: Q:
About other title battles?

Fujii Kisei:
There is a throne battle and an Eiou battle, so I will do my best to liven up the series.

Q: Q:
Today, heavy rains hit Atami and other areas. I think some people were looking forward to watching the game, so please give us a few words.

Fujii Kisei;
We would like to express our deepest sympathies to those affected by the disaster. It may be difficult for you to enjoy shogi in such a situation, but I hope that the environment where you can enjoy shogi will return.

Fujii Kisei succeeded in defending the title at the youngest in history. In addition, by winning the titles of the 2nd term of Kisei and the 1st term of the throne, the promotion rules were met, and the youngest person in history to be promoted to 9th rank was decided. Since he won the title of Kisei in the 7th dan, he was promoted to the 9th dan without being called 'Fujii 8th dan'.

Regarding the rank of 'Kudan', I was asked questions at both the interview immediately after the match and the press conference, and answered that I was not aware of it.

After this, Fujii's second crown will be held on July 13th (Tuesday) and 14th (Wednesday), with Masayuki Toyoshima as the challenger. In addition, the 5th game of the 6th Eiou match, in which he himself challenges Masayuki Toyoshima as a challenger, will be held from Sunday, July 25th. In addition, on July 6th (Tuesday), a match with Toshiaki Kubo Kudan, a B-class 1st group, is scheduled.

・ Addition
Meijin Watanabe has updated his blog about Hulic Cup Kisei Match 3.

Hulic Cup Kisei Match 3rd station. --Akira Watanabe Blog
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/kishi-akira/e/b3b48f11c34263df44ae31c5ae795dd3