Yoshiharu Habu

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 Tatsuya Futakami^[](二上達也, Futakami Tatsuya^?).

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 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 also became professional players, including Toshiyuki Moriuchi^[], Yasumitsu Sato^[] and Manabu Senzaki^[]. Those players born around 1970 are now known as the Habu generation^[], not just because they were born in the same year, but also due to their outstanding achievements as players.

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