Kunio Yonenaga was a Japanese professional shogi player and president of Japan Shogi Association.
12 Facts About Kunio Yonenaga
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Kunio Yonenaga received an honorary title Lifetime Kisei due to his remarkable results in the Kisei title tournament.
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Kunio Yonenaga became a disciple of shogi professional Yuji Sase and moved to Tokyo to live with his teacher to become a professional.
4.
Kunio Yonenaga was regarded as one of the best shogi players through the 1970s and 1980s.
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Kunio Yonenaga won Kisei, his first titleholder championship in 1973 and dominated four of the seven shogi titles in 1984.
6.
Kunio Yonenaga was awarded as Best Shogi Player of the Year thrice, though he had not won a Meijin title, then regarded the supreme tournament, for decades.
7.
Kunio Yonenaga finally won Meijin in 1993 when he was 49, but he was defeated by Yoshiharu Habu the next year.
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In 2008 Kunio Yonenaga announced he had suffered cancer since 2008 spring.
9.
Kunio Yonenaga reported his cancer diagnosis on his website occasionally which later turned into a book Cancer Note.
10.
Kunio Yonenaga was one of early shogi professionals who played with computer shogi publicly.
11.
Kunio Yonenaga authored his last book I lost about this game.
12.
Kunio Yonenaga died on December 18,2012 from prostate cancer at a hospital in Tokyo.