Amahiko Satō


Amahiko Satō is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9-dan. He is a former Meijin title holder.

Early life

Satō was born in Fukuoka on January 18, 1988. He attended elementary school and junior high school in Fukuoka, but moved to Chiba Prefecture to attend senior high school.
He entered the Japanese Shogi Association's apprentice school in September 1998 when he was in the fifth-grade under the guidance of shogi professional Isao Nakata, who is also from Fukuoka and began giving Satō guidance online.

Shogi professional

Satō's first tournament victory as a professional came in September 2008 when he defeated Yoshitaka Hoshino 2 games to none to win the 39th tournament. He won the same tournament in October 2011 when he defeated Masayuki Toyoshima 2 games to 1 to win the 42nd Shinjin-Ō tournament.
In July 2015, Satō defeated Toyoshima once again, this time in the 63rd Ōza title challenger tournament final, to advance to his first major title match. In the best-of-five final against defending champion Yoshiharu Habu, Sato was leading the match 2 games to 1 before Habu came back to win the last two games and defend his title.
Satō's next appearance in a major title match came in February 2016 when he challenged Akira Watanabe for the 41st Kiō title. Satō advanced to the title match by defeating Yasumitsu Satō 2 games to none in the final of the challenger tournament, but ended up losing to Watanabe 3 games to 1.
In May 2016, Satō won his first major title when he defeated Habu 4 games to 1 win the 74th Meijin title. Satō advanced to the Meijin title match by winning Class A ranking league in his first season in the league. Satō successfully defended his Meijin title in 2017 by defeating Akira Inaba and in 2018 by defeating Habu. In each of these title defenses, Satō lost two of the first three games before coming back to win the match.
In December 2016, Satō defeated Shōta Chida 2 games to none to win the 2nd Eiō Tournament. The victory meant that Satō qualified to play the winner of a tournament involving top computer shogi programs in a two-game match the following Spring. Sato lost both games of the match held in AprilMay 2017 to the program.
Satō defeated Hisashi Namekata to win the 26th in September 2018.
Satō was unable to defend his Meijin title for the third consecutive time, losing the 77th Meijin Match to challenger Toyoshima 2-crown 4 games to none.

Promotion history

The promotion history for Satō is as follows:
Satō has appeared in major title matches a total of six times. He has won the Meijin title three times. In addition to major titles, Satō has won four other shogi championships during his career: the , the , and the .

Awards and honors

Satō has received a number of Japan Shogi Association Annual Shogi Awards throughout his career. He won the "Best New Player" award in 2008; the "Best Winning Percentage" and "Most Consecutive Games Won" awards in 2010; the "Most Games Won", "Most Games Played", "Most Consecutive Games Won", "Game of the Year", and "Fighting-spirit" awards in 2015; the "Fighting-spirit" award in 2016; and the "Game of the Year" in 2019.
In addition to awards for shogi, Satō was selected as one of GQ Japan's "Men of the Year" for 2017. Sato won the "Boom" award.

Year-end prize money and game fee ranking

Satō has finished in the "Top 10" of the JSA's five times: 6th place with JPY 21,660,000 in earnings for 2015; 3rd place with JPY 57,220,000 in earnings for 2016; 2nd place with JPY 72,550,000 in earnings in 2017; 2nd place with JPY 59,990,000 in earnings in 2018; and 6th place with JPY 36,870,00 in earnings in 2019.