Yoshitaka Hoshino
Yoshitaka Hoshino is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 5-dan. He also holds an Esports professional shogi player license from the .
Early life and apprenticeship
Hoshino was born in Ageo, Saitama on August 10, 1988. He became interested in shogi when he was about five years old with his first opponent being his mother, and entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyū under the guidance of shogi professional in 2001. He was promoted to the rank of apprentice professional 3-dan in 2007, and finally obtained full professional status and the rank of 4-dan in 2014 after tying Hiroshi Miyamoto for first place in the 54th 3-dan League with a record of 13 wins and 5 losses. Hoshino later stated in an October 2021 interview that his primary motivation for becoming a shogi professional was not money or to have a career, but rather because he felt that "his life would end" and the mental strain would be great if he quit.Shogi professional
In September 2008, Hoshino became just the second apprentice professional 3-dan to advance to the finals of Shinjin-Ō tournament. His bid to become the first apprentice professional to win the tournament, however, was unsuccessful as he lost the 39th Shinjin-Ō title match 2 games to none to regular professional Amahiko Satō 4-dan.Promotion history
The promotion history for Hoshino is as follows:- 6-kyū: September 2001
- 3-dan: April 2007
- 4-dan: April 1, 2014
- 5-dan: August 13, 2020