Ninth-dan shogi player Yoshiharu Habu began his quest for an unprecedented 100th career title on Friday as he faced titleholder Masayuki Toyoshima in the 33rd Ryuo tournament in Tokyo, with the first-day action concluding with Habu sealing the 27th move.
The opening match in the best-of seven series started at 9 a.m. at the Cerulean Tower Noh Theatre in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward with Habu making the first move. At 6 p.m., the match was suspended until the following morning with Habu's next move sealed in an envelope.
This is the fourth year in a row that the tournament is being held at the Noh theater and is open to the public. Only a limited number of tickets, however, were made available as a countermeasure against the novel coronavirus. Those able to obtain the premium tickets watched the action from seats surrounding the stage.
On Saturday morning, observer and ninth-dan Toshiyuki Moriuchi opened the envelope and read out the sealed move to restart the match.
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