Kunio Yonenaga

Kunio Yonenaga
Born (1943-06-10)June 10, 1943
Died December 18, 2012(2012-12-18) (aged 69)
Nationality Japanese
Years active 1963-2012
Known for President Japan Shogi Association
Title Eternal Grand Master Shogi Player
Awards Medal with Purple Ribbon (2003)
Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2013)
Notes
Infobox includes data translated from Japanese Wikipedia

Kunio Yonenaga (米長 邦雄, Yonenaga Kunio, June 10, 1943[1]　- December 18, 2012[1][2]) was a Japanese professional shogi player[1] and president of Japan Shogi Association[3] (May, 2005 - December 18, 2012[2][4]). He received an honorary title "Eisei Kisei" (Lifetime Kisei) due to his remarkable results in the Kisei title tournament.[1]

Biography

Yonenaga was born in Masuho, Yamanashi in 1943.[1] He became a disciple of shogi professional Yūji Sase and moved to Tokyo to live with his teacher to become a professional.

Yonenaga became a professional in 1963, and was promoted to 9 dan in 1979.[1]

Yonenaga was regarded as one of the best shogi players through the 1970s and 1980s. He won Kisei, his first titleholder championship in 1973 and dominated four of the seven shogi titles in 1984. He was awarded as Best Shogi Player of the Year thrice (1978, 1983 and 1984), though he had not won a Meijin title, then regarded the supreme tournament, for decades. He finally won Meijin in 1993 when he was 49 (the oldest on record), but he was defeated by Yoshiharu Habu the next year. Yonenaga retired in 2003.[1]

He was also an education board member for Tokyo.[5]

In 2008 Yonenaga announced he had suffered cancer since 2008 spring.[6] He reported his cancer diagnosis on his website occasionally which later turned into a book Cancer Note (published in 2009).

Yonenaga was one of early shogi professionals who played with computer shogi publicly. In 2012, he played a game with bonkras(ja:ボンクラーズ (コンピュータ将棋), a computer shogi software, and lost. Yonenaga authored his last book I lost about this game.

Yonenaga died on December 18 2012 from prostate cancer at a hospital in Tokyo. He was succeeded by the professional Koji Tanigawa.

Titles and other championships

Title Years Held
Meijin 1993
10 dan 1984—1985
Kisei 1973, 1980, 1983—1985
Oi 1979
Kioh 1979, 1981—1984
Osho 1983—1984, 1990
Title Years Held
NHK Cup 1979
Nihon Series 1980, 1984, 1986

Honours

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 棋士紹介－物故棋士一覧 [List of Deceased Shogi Players] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
  2. 1 2 将棋の米長邦雄さん 死去 [Shogi player Kunio Yonenaga dies] (in Japanese). NHK. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  3. ↑ RIKEN and Fujitsu host symposium on ‘shogi intuition’ (Japanese chess) research
  4. ↑ "組織概要［創立・沿革］" [About Us].
  5. ↑ Tokyo's Flag Law: Proud Patriotism, or Indoctrination?
  6. ↑ "癌ノート" [Cancer Note]. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
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