Hoshino was born in Ageo, Saitama on August 10, 1988.[1] He became interested in shogi when he was about five years old with his first opponent being his mother,[a][2] and entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyū under the guidance of shogi professional Kazuyoshi Nishimura [ja] in 2001.[3] 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 (October 2013 – March 2014) with a record of 13 wins and 5 losses.[3][4] 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.[2]
Shogi professional
In September 2008, Hoshino became just the second apprentice professional 3-dan to advance to the finals of Shinjin-Ō [ja] tournament.[5] 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.[6][7]
Hoshino received the Japan Shogi Association's Masuda Award for his "Accelerated Silver 37" variation for the Cheerful Central Rook opening; becoming the second apprentice professional to ever win the award.[9][10][11]
Esports
In January 2020, Hoshino tweeted that he was looking for ways to supplement career as a professional shogi player.[12] He received an offer from the Japanese software company SilverStar Japan [ja] and joined the company in April 2020 to take charge of the planning, developing and promoting of its board game products.[13] His duties also made him responsible for the planning, promotion and execution of the company's Esports shogi tournament Real Time Shogi Battle [ja] sanctioned by the Japan eSports Union [ja] (JeSU) held in 2021.[14] Hoshino also participated in the tournament with the goal of becoming a Esports shogi professional. Hoshino advanced to the final four tournament held at a shopping mall in Nagoya on October 3, 2021, but ended up in fourth place.[15] He was, however, granted an Esports professional shogi player license by the JeSU for his result.[16]
Notes
^In an interview with the website Esports World, Hoshino stated he first learned about shogi after seeing a shogi board on the reverse side of a magnetic Othello board game set.[2]