Tatsuya Sugai
Tatsuya Sugai is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 8-dan. He is a former holder of the Ōi title.
Early life, amateur shogi and apprenticeship
Tatsuya Suga was born on April 17, 1992, in Mitsu, Okayama. He learned how to play shogi from his father when he was about five years old. He entered into the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyū as a student of shogi professional Keita Inoue in September 2004 and obtained professional status and the rank of 4-dan in April 2010 after winning the 46th 3-dan League with a record of 15 wins and 3 losses.Shogi professional
In 2011, Sugai as a 19-year-old 4-dan defeated Yasuaki Murayama in the championship game of the 5th to win his first tournament championship as shogi professional.In October 2015, Sugai defeated apprentice shogi professional 3-dan Takahiro Ōhashi 2 games to 1 to win the 46th tournament for players ranked 6-dan or lower. Sugai lost the first game of the match but then won the next two.
Sugai's first appearance in a major title match came in 2017 when he defeated Yoshiharu Habu to win the 58th Ōi title. The following year, however, he was unable to successfully defend his title against Masayuki Toyoshima, losing the 59th Ōi title match 4 games to 3.
In December 2021, Sugai defeated Akira Watanabe to win the 29th Ginga tournament. A few months later in February 2022, he defeated Akira Inaba to win the 15th, also for the first time.
In March 2023, Sugai defeated Takuya Nagase in the finals of the 8th Eiō challenger tournament to advance to the 8th Eiō title match against reigning Eiō Sōta Fujii. Although Sugai was able to win Game 2 of the match to even the match at one game apiece, Fujii won the next two games to win match 3 games to 1. The final game of the match, however, included two sennichite games, which meant it took three games that day to reach a conclusive result.
Later in 2023, Sugai won the 73rd Ōshō League with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss in his first season of league play. Sugai's win meant he earned the right to challenge once again, this time for the 73rd Ōshō title. His good form, however, did not continue and he lost the 73rd Ōshō title match 4 games to none.
Promotion history
The promotion history for Sugai is as follows:- 6-kyū: September 29, 2004
- 4-dan: April 1, 2010
- 5-dan: August 21, 2011
- 6-dan: March 10, 2015
- 7-dan: November 5, 2015
- 8-dan: January 23, 2020