Shintarō Saitō was born on April 21, 1993, in Nara. He learned how to play the game from reading books written by Yoshiharu Habu, and as a third-grade elementary school student played his future mentor shogi professional Mamoru Hatakeyamafor the first time in an :Handicap |instructional game. As a fourth-grade student, Saitō personally wrote Hatakeyama asking for formal instruction, and formally entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyū in September 2004 under the latter's guidance. Saitō steadily progressed as an apprentice professional, reaching 1-dan in November 2006 and entering the 43rd 3-dan League in April 2008; his progress, however, slowed and it took him eight seasons of 3-dan League play before he was able to obtain professional status and the rank of 4-dan by winning the 50th 3-dan League with a record of 15 wins and 3 losses in March 2012.
Shogi professional
Saitō first appearance in a major title match came in June 2017 when he challenged Yoshiharu Habu for 88th Kisei title. Saitō had defeated Tetsurō Itodani the previous April to earn the right to face Habu, but ended up losing the title match 3 games to 1. In July 2018, Saito defeated :Akira Watanabe |Akira Watanabe to become the challenger for the 66th Ōza title against Taichi Nakamura. The title match against Nakamura took place from September 4 to October 30, 2018. Saitō won the first two games to take the lead, but Nakamura won the next two games to tie the match. Saitō then won Game 5 to win his first major title. Saito's first defense of his Ōza title the following year, however, was unsuccessful, losing the 67th Ōza title match to challenger Takuya Nagase 3 games to none in October 2019.
Promotion history
The promotion history for Saitō is as follows:
2004, September: 6-kyū
2008, April: 3-dan
2012, April 1: 4-dan
2013, March 5: 5-dan
2015, April 23: 6-dan
2017, March 8: 7-dan
2020, February 13: 8-dan
Titles and other championships
Saitō's has appeared in three major title matches to date, and has won one major title.
Saitō has finished in the "Top 10" of the JSA's twice since turning professional: eighth in 2018 with JPY 23,930,000 in earnings, and tenth in 2019 with JPY 18,680,000 in earnings.
