Yutaka Hani, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Law and member of the Okayama University Shogi (Japanese Chess) Club won the 74th Student Shogi Meijin Tournament held in Tokyo on May 26 and 27. It was his first victory in the tournament in his final year at the university after taking second place in the same tournament last year.

A total of 32 strong amateur student players who advanced from the regional preliminaries fought fiercely during this two-day tournament. Hani will participate in the 12th Asahi Cup Shogi Open Tournament scheduled in July as a representative of amateur student shogi players and compete against professional players. He will also be invited to participate in the 47th Student Shogi Osho Tournament, a national individual shogi tournament for college students scheduled in December.

Hani commented about his victory: “Since I became a fourth-year student, I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to spend much time practicing. So no one was more surprised than me that I won the tournament. It was good to be able to take it easy and enjoy playing shogi. I’ll do my best in games with professional players and try to learn from them.”