Yoshiharu Habu is a professional shogi player and a chess FIDE Master. He is a former holder of the Ryūō, Meijin, Ōi, Ōza, Kiō, Ōshō and Kisei major titles. He was the first person to simultaneously hold seven major professional shogi titles at the same time and is the only person to qualify as a lifetime title holder for seven major titles. In January 2018, Habu became the first professional shogi player to be awarded Japan's People's Honour Award. In June 2023, he was elected to the board of directors of the Japan Shogi Association (JSA), and chosen by the board to be the JSA president.
Yoshiharu Habu at International Shogi Forum 2011
Habu playing chess with Peter Heine Nielsen (2014)
Professional shogi player
A professional shogi player is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players.
Professional shogi players, Yoshiharu Habu and Akira Watanabe, in 2014 with women's professional player Aya Fujita as timekeeper and (former) apprentice professional Naoto Kawasaki as game recorder
Professional shogi players at a human shogi [ja] exhibition match in Himeji, Japan in 2018. From left to right: Toshiaki Kubo, Keita Inoue, Masakazu Wakamatsu, Tetsurō Itodani, Akira Inaba, Shinobu Iwane, and Rei Takedomi.
Professional shogi players Hiroyuki Miura, Rieko Yauchi (Women's professional), Takeshi Fujii and Yoshiharu Habu (from left to right) in 2013.
Women's professionals Momoko Katō 3-dan (left) and Sae Itō 2-dan (right)