was a Japanese professional shogi player and president of

Japan Shogi Association The , or JSA, is the primary organizing body for professional shogi in Japan. The JSA sets the professional calendar, negotiates sponsorship and media promotion deals, helps organize tournaments and title matches, publishes shogi-related materia ...

(May, 2005 - December 18, 2012). He received an honorary title Lifetime Kisei due to his remarkable results in the Kisei title tournament. He is a former

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 ( ...

and 10-

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 ...

Biography

Yonenaga was born in

Masuho, Yamanashi was a town located in Minamikoma District, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 13,083 and a density of 200.75 persons per km². The total area was 65.17 km². On March 8, 2010, Masuho, along with ...

in 1943. 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. 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

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 is a professional shogi player and a chess FIDE Master. His master is Tatsuya Futakami. He is the only person to simultaneously hold seven major professional shogi titles at the same time and is also the only person to qualify as a lifetime tit ...

the next year. Yonenaga retired in 2003. He was also an education board member for

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

.Tokyo's Flag Law: Proud Patriotism, or Indoctrination?
/ref> In 2008 Yonenaga announced he had suffered

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

since 2008 spring. 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 when was retired, he played a game with , 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.

Titles and other championships

Honours

Medal with Purple Ribbon are medals awarded by the Government of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and we ...

(2003) * Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2013)

References

External links

* YouTube
Interview with Kunio Yonenaga
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yonenaga, Kunio Japanese shogi players Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Professional shogi players from Yamanashi Prefecture 1943 births 2012 deaths Deceased professional shogi players Meijin (shogi) Tenth Dan Kisei (shogi) Ōi (shogi) Kiō Ōshō Lifetime titles Recipients of the Kōzō Masuda Award Presidents of the Japan Shogi Association