The Ryu-O is the most important of the seven major professional shogi titles. The Ryu-O tournament is played annually, starting with six qualification groups from which eleven players qualify for the challenger finals. This challenger final is a knock-out tournament that ends in a best-of-three challenger match between the two remaining players. The winner of this small match earns the right to challenge the Ryu-O titleholder in a best-of-seven match for the title. 

The Ryu-O tournament is also known as the "dream tournament" as it is not only open to professionals, but each year also a number of amateur players enter the tournament. Therefore, even amateur players can dream of becoming the Ryu-O titleholder. Almost every year, professional players are beaten by amateurs, but so far no amateur player has reached the challenger finals. 

The first Ryu-O title match was held in 1988 and won by Shima Akira, who beat Yonenaga Kunio 4-0. Since then, the Ryu-O title has been won by the famous players Habu Yoshiharu (1989, 1992, 1994 and 1996), Tanigawa Koji (1990, 1991, 1997 and 1998) and Sato Yasumitsu (1993). In 1998, the relatively unknown Fujii Takeshi lived the Ryu-O dream to the full as he came all the way from the fourth classification group to become Ryu-O challenger, beating top players like Minami, Yashiki and Habu on the way. In that Ryu-O match he stunned the shogi world by taking the Ryu-O title with a 4-0 whitewash of Tanigawa. He proved that this was no coincidence by an impressive defence of his title last year, giving challenger Suzuki Daisuke only a single game (4-1). Fujii has made a name for himself since then, just recently challenging Habu for the Oza title, only to fall short in the final game (3-2 to Habu). 

This year Fujii faces his toughest challenge, as his opponent in the 13th Ryu-O title match is Habu again. Habu is already a living legend at 30, currently holding five of the seven major titles (Oi, Osho, Oza, Kisei and Kio; only the Meijin title is in the hands of Maruyama Tadahisa). Furthermore, he is in great form this season, leading all professionals for most of the season with a winning percentage close to 80%. However, so far Fujii has not shown any signs of being impressed by his formidable opponent. He feels quite comfortable playing Habu going into the match with a positive score in their mutual games (only 6-5, but still). His confidence has shown in the match so far, as Fujii has been dictating the pace in every game and at one point looked like he would decide the match very quickly when he led 3-1. However, Habu showed where legends are made of, as he refused to go quietly and pulled out the fifth and the sixth game to level the match.

 So here we are. The stage is set for an exciting final act of the Ryu-O drama between two rivals who are almost exactly the same age (Habu was born on September 27th 1970, while Fujii was born only two days later). Habu may have the edge in experience, playing the decisive game of a title match for the fourth time in a row (and winning the previous three). Still, he needs to find something good against Fujii's perfect opening play, as this is where Habu has had major problems so far. Who will be the next Ryu-O?