is a Japanese

professional shogi player A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 ''shōgi kishi'' or プロ棋士 ''puro kishi'' "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players. There are two categories of professional player ...

, ranked 8-

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

. Inaba, together with

Tetsurō Itodani is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 8-dan and former Ryūō title holder. Itodani, together with Akira Inaba, Masayuki Toyoshima and Akihiro Murata, is one of four Kansai-based young shogi professionals who are collectively refe ...

Masayuki Toyoshima is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9-dan. He is a former holder of the Ryūō, Meijin, Ōi, Kisei and Eiō titles. Toyoshima, together with Akira Inaba, Tetsurō Itodani and Akihiro Murata, is one of four Kansai-based young s ...

and

Akihiro Murata is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 6-dan. Early life Murata was born on July 14, 1986, in Uozu, Toyama. He learned how to play shogi when he was about five years old from his father. In 1998, Murata took the entrance exam for the J ...

, is one of four Kansai-based young shogi professionals who are collectively referred to as the "Young Kansai Big Four" (関西若手四天王 ''Kansai Wakate Shitennō'').

Promotion history

Inaba's promotion history is as follows: * 6-

kyū is a Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in tea ceremony, flower arranging, Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, levels or degrees of proficiency or experience. In Mandarin Chin ...

: September 2000 * 4-dan: April 1, 2008 * 5-dan: March 8, 2011 * 6-dan: May 1, 2012 * 7-dan: August 16, 2013 * 8-dan: February 18, 2016

Titles and other championships

Inaba has appeared in a major title match only once: he was the challenger for the

Meijin is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word ''meijin'' (名 ''mei'' "excellent, artful", 人 ''jin'' "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (t ...

title in 2017. He earned the right to challenge

Amahiko Satō is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9-dan. He is a former Meijin title holder. Early life Satō was born in Fukuoka on January 18, 1988. He attended elementary school and junior high school in Fukuoka, but moved to Chiba Prefecture to ...

for the title by winning the 2016-2017 Class A ranking tournament with a record of 8 wins and 1 loss, thus becoming the eighth player in history to win the right to challenge for the Meijin title in his first year in Class A. Inaba has won two non-major title championships: the 21st tournament in 2013, and the 70th NHK Cup tournament in 2021.

Year-end prize money and game fee ranking

Inaba has finished in the "Top 10" of the JSA's three times: 6th with JPY 28,010,000 in earnings in 2017; 9th with JPY 17,030,000 in earnings in 2021; and 10th with JPY 15,800,000 in earnings in 2022.

References

External links

* ShogiHub
Professional Player Info · Inaba, Akira
* Shogi Fan
Inaba will be the next Meijin challenger
1988 births Japanese shogi players Living people Professional shogi players Professional shogi players from Hyōgo Prefecture People from Nishinomiya Ginga {{shogi-stub