Akira Watanabe

Akira Watanabe, born in Katsushika, Tokyo, in 1984, is a professional shogi player ranked 9-dan, and has held the Meijin, Ryuo, Kisei, Osho, Oza and Kio titles. He also carries lifetime Ryuo and lifetime Kio qualifications, which is the detail that tells you the most about him: those honors are not awarded for a single brilliant run but for winning the same title repeatedly over many years. Shogi offers a competitor no cover at all. There is no bad bounce, no teammate to absorb blame, no weather. When the game ends, the only thing left on the board is the sequence of moves you personally chose, and everyone can review them. Sitting down to that verdict, year after year, against opponents who have studied everything you have ever played, seems to me like a slow test of the nervous system as much as the intellect. What impresses me about Watanabe is not the strength so much as the composure underneath it.

Name (English)

Akira Watanabe

Name (Japanese)

渡辺明

Reading

わたなべ あきら

Born

April 23, 1984 (age 42)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Rat

Origin

Katsushika, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

professional shogi player

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira%20Watanabe%20(shogi)
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%A1%E8%BE%BA%E6%98%8E%20(%E6%A3%8B%E5%A3%AB)
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q866333

Tags

• Tokyo
• professional shogi player

Last updated

2026-08-07

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.