Yūsei Koga
Yūsei Koga is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 6-dan.
Early life and apprentice professional
Koga was born in Fukuoka, Japan on February 13, 1996. He learned how to play shogi from his grandfather when he was about four years old.Koga entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school in September 2011 as a protegee of shogi professional Isao Nakata. He was promoted to the rank of apprentice professional 3-dan in April 2017 and obtained full professional status and the rank of 4-dan after finishing third in the 67th 3-dan League with a record of 13 wins and 5 losses. Although Koga's third place finish was not sufficient to earn him direct promotion to 4-dan, it was good enough to earn him a second promotion point which gave him the option to enter the professional ranks as a free class player. After consulting with his mentor Nakata, Koga decided he wanted to turn professional even if it meant starting in the Free Class.
Shogi professional
In September 2021, Koga was promoted to Meijin Class C2 after defeating Hirotaka Kajiura 7-dan to reach the finals of the 52nd tournament. Koga's victory meant that he satisfied the criteria for promotion to Class C2 for the 80th Meijin League.Promotion history
The promotion history for Koga is as follows.- 6-kyū: September 2011
- 3-dan: April 2017
- 4-dan: October 1, 2020
- 5-dan: March 14, 2023
- 6-dan: March 5, 2024