How did the two shogi players who will face off at the Ryuo title match spend their time when people were refraining from going out during the state of emergency from April to May, when games were canceled?
For the past five years, titleholder Masayuki Toyoshima has rarely played practice matches with other people. "The coronavirus had little influence on my study of shogi. I played practice games with others online for the first time in a while so that I wouldn't lose my sense of practicing shogi," he said.
Although people spending a lot of time at home were concerned about a lack of exercise, Toyoshima used an exercise video game called "Ring Fit Adventure."
"It was an interesting game and I got hooked. I was in good shape because I could do a full-body workout while having fun," he said, adding that he still keeps in shape.
Yoshiharu Habu, who is now at the highest level of ninth dan, said, "I couldn't exercise at home, so I wore a mask and took a walk every morning and evening." He says he succeeded in losing weight, but "if I am careless, I will soon gain weight again. It's hard to maintain my weight at this age," he laughed.
This spring, he also spent time at home writing books and making several video messages for clients. "I used cameras on my devices, so I learned how to use my smartphone's video function and my PC's web conferencing system," he said.
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