Kazushi Watanabe (渡辺 和史, Watanabe Kazushi, born October 6, 1994) is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 7-dan.
[2][3][4] He was promoted to the rank of apprentice professional 3-dan in April 2013,[2][3][4] but finished with a record of 1 win and 17 losses in his first season of 3-dan League (54th 3-dan League October 2013 – March 2014).
[5] Encouraged not to give up and not to worry about being demoted to 2-dan by his mentor Toyokawa,[4] Watanabe's results improved and he finally obtained full professional status and the corresponding rank of 4-dan in October 2019 after winning the 65th 3-dan League (April 2019 – September 2019) with a record of 16 wins and 2 losses.
[9] Watanabe has stated that he has been interested in the study of history ever since he was a young boy.
After graduating from high school, he enrolled in Taisho University because he wanted to broaden his horizons instead of just focusing on shogi.