Yoshiharu Habu

File:Habu at ISF 2011 03.JPG

Yoshiharu Habu at International Shogi Forum 2011

Yoshiharu Habu (羽生善治, Habu Yoshiharu, born September 27, 1970) is a professional shogi player and a chess FIDE Master. He studied shogi under [[{{{1}}}]] (二上達也, Futakami Tatsuya).

Early life

Yoshiharu Habu was born in Tokorozawa, Saitama in 1970 and moved to Hachioji, Tokyo before entering kindergarten. Habu first encountered shogi in his first year of elementary school, when his classmates taught him how the shogi pieces move. He was so fascinated by the game that his mother entered him in a shogi tournament held at the Hachioji Shogi Club in the summer of in 1978. Although Habu was eliminated during the preliminary rounds with a record of 1 win and 2 losses, his parents took him to the shogi club every weekend from October 1978. Habu improved so rapidly that he was promoted to amateur 5-dan in October 1981 at the age of 11.

During his elementary school days, Habu regularly participated in regional and national shogi tournaments, mainly for children. At these tournaments, Habu played against several children of the same age who would also become professional players, including [[{{{1}}}]], [[{{{1}}}]] and [[{{{1}}}]]. Those players born around 1970 are now known as the [[{{{1}}}]], not just because they were born in the same year, but also due to their outstanding achievements as players.

In July 1981, Habu qualified to participate in the [[{{{1}}}]] as the youngest ever representative ever of the Tokyo Suburban Area, and won four tournaments for elementary school children the following August. In April 1982, Habu won the 7th [[{{{1}}}]] (小学生将棋名人戦, Shōgakusei meijinsen). He expressed his desire to become a professional player and asked advice from Katsuyasu Nakajima, the owner of the Hachioji Shogi Club and a student of Tatsuya Futakami. Habu applied to the [[{{{1}}}]] (奨励会, shōreikai) as Futakami's student and was accepted as a member later in 1982.

Shogi professional

Habu became a 4-dan professional in 1985 at the age of 14. He was the third "junior high school kid professional" in shogi history following [[{{{1}}}]] and [[{{{1}}}]]. In 1989, at the age of 19, Habu 6-dan won the Ryu-oh championship, defeating [[{{{1}}}]] who led a 4-person shogi study group "Shimaken" in which Habu himself took part. This was the first time Habu won one of the seven major titles making him, at the time, the youngest titleholder ever. Although he lost the Ryu-oh title to Tanigawa the following year, Habu won the Kioh championship four months later in 1991. Since then he has held at least one of the seven major titles every year since then, and according to custom of the titleholder system he has, therefore, never been referred to by his dan ranking since winning that first championship in 1989.

Accumulating three wins in major championships (Ryu-oh in 1989, Kioh in 1991 and 1992), Habu actually did qualify for promotion to 9-dan in March 1992, but the existing promotion rules required him to be promoted to 8-dan first and then to wait one year before his next promotion. He was officially promoted to 9-dan on April 1, 1994.

In 1992 Habu won the Oza championship defeating [[{{{1}}}]] to hold two titles (Kioh and Oza) simultaneously. He went on to hold the Oza title for 19 terms in a row. In 1996 (February 14 to July 30), Habu became the first professional to ever hold all seven major titles (Ryu-oh, Meijin, Kisei, Oi, Oza, Kioh, and Osho) at the same time, a remarkable feat that has not been duplicated since.

In July 2012, Habu won his 81st shogi title overall when he won in the Kisei title, becoming 1st on the all-time title-winners list, and surpassing the 80 of the late [[{{{1}}}]].

In June 2014, Habu defeated the defending Meijin Toshiyuki Moriuchi four games to none to become the 72nd Meijin. Habu lost his Meijin title to Moriuchi in 2011 (69th Meijin match) and was unable to defeat Moriuchi and regain the title in both 2012 (70th Meijin match) and 2013 (71st Meijin match). By defeating Moriuchi, Habu not only moved into a tie with both Moriuchi and Yoshio Kimura for third place on the all time Meijin winner's list, he also became the first person the recapture the title for the third time.

In November 2014, Habu won his 1300 official game, becoming the fourth player to do so, the youngest player to do so (44 years and 1 month) and the fastest player to do since turning professional (28 years and 11 months). Habu's win came in his 1801 game as a professional and his winning percentage of 72.3 percent at the time is the all-time highest of any professional player to reach 1300 wins to date.

Personal life

In March 1996, Habu married actress and singer [[{{{1}}}]] at Hato no Mori Hachiman Shrine in Sendagaya, Tokyo not far from the head office of the Japan Shogi Association. The two had met for the first time in September 1994 and officially announced their engagement in July 1995. It was reported that 80 police officers were assigned to the ceremony due to the popularity of the two. As of 2012, they have two daughters. He is also one of the best chess players in Japan, with an Elo rating of 2415 (February 2014).

Promotion history

The promotion history of Habu is as follows:

• 1982, December 2: 6-kyu
• 1983, February 2: 5-kyu (6 wins, 3 losses)
• 1983, March 28: 4-kyu (6 wins, no losses)
• 1983, May 11: 3-kyu: (6 wins, no losses)
• 1983, July 7: 2-kyu: (6 wins, no losses)
• 1983, August 24: 1-kyu: (6 wins, no losses)
• 1984, January 11: 1-dan (12 wins, 4 losses)
• 1984, September 10: 2-dan (14 wins, 5 losses)
• 1985, April 25: 3-dan (12 wins, 4 losses)
• 1985, December 12: 4-dan (13 wins, 4 losses)
• 1988, April 1: 5-dan (for being promoted to Class C1 of Meijin ranking leagues)
• 1989, October 1: 6-dan (for being the Ryu-oh challenger)
• 1990, October 1: 7-dan (for being the Ryu-oh title holder, but needed to wait one year after 6-dan promotion)
• 1993, April 1: 8-dan (for being promoted to Class A of the Meijin ranking leagues)
• 1994, April 1: 9-dan (Qualified for rank in 1993 after holding a major title for three periods (years), but needed to wait one year after of 8-dan promotion before promoted to 9-dan )

Titles and other championships

Major titles

There are 7 major titles in shogi. Below is a list of number of times and years Habu has won each title.

Title	Years	Number of times overall
Ryu-oh	1989, 1992, 1994–95, 2001–02	6
Meijin	1994–96, 2003, 2008–10, 2014-15 (current)	9
Kisei	1993–95, 2000, 2008–2015 (current)	14
Oi	1993–2001, 2004–06, 2011–15 (current)	17
Oza	1992–2010, 2012–15 (current)	23
Kioh	1991–2002, 2005	13
Osho	1996–2001, 2003, 2005–09	12

Lifetime titles (qualified for, but awarded upon retirement or death): Lifetime Meijin, Lifetime Kisei, Lifetime Oi, Lifetime Oza, Lifetime Kioh, Lifetime Osho.

Holds the record number of title match victories for the following titles: Oi, Oza, Kioh

Holds the record number of consecutive title match victories for the following titles: Kisei, Oza, Kioh

Other tournaments

In addition to major titles, Habu has won the following non-title tournaments.

Tournament	Years	Number of times
[[{{{1}}}]]	2011–12	2
[[{{{1}}}]]	2009, 2011, 2013–15	5
*[[{{{1}}}]]	2003–06	4
*[[{{{1}}}]]	1990, 1992, 1998	3
[[{{{1}}}]]	1997–98, 2000–01, 2004, 2006, 2012	7
NHK Cup	1989, 1992, 1997–99, 2001, 2008–11	10
*[[{{{1}}}]]	1992, 1995, 2002	3
[[{{{1}}}]]	1991, 1998, 2003, 2010–11	5
[[{{{1}}}]]	1988	1
*[[{{{1}}}]]	1988, 1990, 1997, 1999	4
*[[{{{1}}}]]	1987–88	2
*[[{{{1}}}]]	1987, 1989	2

Lifetime titles: Lifetime NHK Cup Champion

Note: Tournaments marked with an asterisk (*) are no longer held.

Awards

Habu's has received the following awards in recognition of his accomplishments throughout his career. The "Annual shogi awards" are awarded by the [[{{{1}}}]], or JSA, to its members each year in recognition of performance during official play throughout the previous professional shogi year or shogi"nendo" (年度) (April 1 to March 31). "Other awards" includes those awarded by the JSA for career accomplishments and those awarded governmental organizations, etc. for contributions made to Japanese society.

Annual shogi awards

• 14th Annual Awards (April 1986 — March 1987): Best Winning Percentage, Best New Player
• 15th Annual Awards (April 1987 — March 1988): Best Winning Percentage, Most Victories, Fighting-spirit
• 16th Annual Awards (April 1988 — March 1989): Player of the Year, Best Winning Percentage, Most Games Won, Most Games Played, Most Consecutive Games Won
• 17th Annual Awards (April 1989 — March 1990): Player of the Year, Best Winning Percentage, Most Games Won, Most Games Played, Most Consecutive Games Won
• 19th Annual Awards (April 1991 — March 1992): Fighting-spirit
• 20th Annual Awards (April 1992 — March 1993): Player of the Year, Best Winning Percentage, Most Games Won, Most Games Played, Most Consecutive Games Won
• 21st Annual Awards (April 1993 — March 1994): Player of the Year
• 22nd Annual Awards (April 1994 — March 1995): Player of the Year, Most Games Won
• 23rd Annual Awards (April 1995 — March 1996): Player of the Year, Best Winning Percentage, Most Games Won, Special Award
• 24th Annual Awards (April 1996 — March 1997): Player of the Year
• 26th Annual Awards (April 1998 — March 1999): Player of the Year, Most Games Played
• 27th Annual Awards (April 1999 — March 2000): Player of the Year
• 28th Annual Awards (April 2000 — March 2001): Player of the Year, Best Winning Percentage, Most Games Won, Most Games Played, Most Consecutive Games Won
• 29th Annual Awards (April 2001 — March 2002): Player of the Year
• 30th Annual Awards (April 2002 — March 2003): Player of the Year, Most Games Won, Most Games Played
• 32nd Annual Awards (April 2004 — March 2005): Player of the Year, Most Games Won, Most Games Played
• 33rd Annual Awards (April 2005 — March 2006): Player of the Year, Most Games Played, Most Consecutive Games Won
• 34th Annual Awards (April 2006 — March 2007): Excellent Player, Game of the Year
• 35th Annual Awards (April 2007 — March 2008): Player of the Year, Most Games Won, Most Games Played, Game of the Year
• 36th Annual Awards (April 2008 — March 2009): Player of the Year, Game of the Year
• 37th Annual Awards (April 2009 — March 2010): Player of the Year
• 38th Annual Awards (April 2010 — March 2011): Player of the Year, Most Games Won
• 39th Annual Awards (April 2011 — March 2012): Player of the Year, Most Games Won, Most Games Played
• 40th Annual Awards (April 2012 — March 2013): Excellent Player, Most Games Won, Most Games Played, Game of the Year, Special Award
• 41st Annual Awards (April 2013 — March 2014): Excellent Player, Most Games Won, Most Games Played, Game of the Year
• 42nd Annual Awards (April 2014 - March 2015): Player of the Year, Game of the Year
• 43rd Annual Awards (April 2015 - March 2016): Player of the Year, Special Game of the Year

Other awards

• 1994: Tokyo Resident Culture Honor Award (Awarded by the Governor of Tokyo in recognition of cultural achievements by a Tokyoite)
• 1996: Prime Minister's Award (Awarded by then Japanese Prime Minister Ryūtarō Hashimoto in recognition of becoming the first person to hold all seven major shogi titles at the same time.
• 1999: Shogi Honor Award (Awarded by the JSA in recognition of winning 600 official games as a professional)
• 2003: Shogi Honor Fighting-spirit Award (Awarded by JSA in recognition of winning 800 official games as a professional)
• 2007: Special Shogi Honor Award (Awarded by the JSA in recognition of winning 1,000 official games as a professional)
• 2008: 56th Kikuchi Kan Prize (Awarded by the publishing company Bungei Shunju in recognition of cultural achievements)
• 2010: 25 Years Service Award (Awarded by the JSA in recognition of being an active professional for twenty-five years)

Year-end prize money rankings

Since 1993, Habu has finished at the top of the year-end prize money rankings a total of 21 times (1993–96, 1998-2012, 2014–15) and second twice (1997 and 2013). All amounts are given in Japanese yen and consist of tournament winnings and other game fees received during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31).

• 1993: \100,630,000
• 1994: \112,970,000
• 1995: \165,970,000
• 1996: \161,450,000
• 1997: \101,820,000
• 1998: \114,660,000
• 1999: \78,720,000
• 2000: \105,950,000
• 2001: \115,190,000
• 2002: \110,480,000
• 2003: \129,100,000
• 2004: \112,720,000
• 2005: \103,910,000
• 2006: \93,760,000
• 2007: \81,320,000
• 2008: \107,110,000
• 2009: \112,780,000
• 2010: \115,760,000
• 2011: \98,860,000
• 2012: \91,750,000
• 2013: \72,810,000
• 2014: \114,990,000
• 2015: \119,000,000

Publications

Habu has written numerous books, articles, etc. on shogi and various other topics. The vast majority of these are in Japanese, but there are some written in English.

Wrote foreword

Video games

• Habu Meijin no Omoshiro Shōgi - Super Famicom video game
• Saikyō Habu Shōgi - Nintendo 64 video game
• Habu Yoshiharu Shogi de Kitaeru: Ketsudanryoku DS - Nintendo DS video game
• i HABU Shogi - iPhone/iPod

External links

• Yoshiharu Habu rating card at FIDE