Banjou no Alpha ~ Yakusoku no Shogi

Newspaper journalist Akiba Shunsuke (Tamaki Hiroshi) gets transferred from the local news desk to the cultural desk and put in charge of shogi because of his arrogant personality. On top of that, he presses his girlfriend Saito Keiko (Higa Manami) on marriage but gets rejected. Akiba meets 33-year old Sanada Nobushige (Kamiji Yusuke) who aims to be a professional shogi player by achieving the rank of 4-dan or more. He was unable to become a professional shogi player because he could not achieve 4-dan by the age of 26 which is the age limit. There is a special provision to become a professional player and Sanada has been trying to take an exam for admission to the 3-dan ring. Akiba is persuaded by his sob story about getting kicked out for not paying rent and lets him live with him in his apartment. Although Akiba dismisses shogi as a mere board game, he gets to know Sanada’s teacher Senda Shozo (Kondo Masaomi) and becomes absorbed in the game. He supports Sanada’s impulsive attempt to be a professional shogi player at 33. This is also a “rematch” for himself. However, Hayashi Eisei (Ishibashi Renji), a bill collector and former shogi player, who taught Sanada shogi during his youth shows up … …

Synopsis: JDrama Weblog