Kimura was born in Yotsukaidō, Chiba Prefecture on June 23, 1973. He learned how to play shogi at a friend's house when he was in kindergarten, and started regularly going to a local shogi club when he was a second-grade elementary school student. Kimura first met his future mentor shogi professional when the two played a :Handicap #Types of handicap games|2-piece handicap game. Kimura soon began taking lessons from Sase at his house, where he occasionally played practice games against Hiroe Nakai, who was another one of Sase's students. In 1985, he advanced to the quarterfinals of the as sixth-grade elementary school student, and later that same year entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school under the guidance of Sase. At first, Kimura progressed fairly quickly and was promoted to the rank of 3-dan in the fall of 1990 when he was an eleventh-grade high school student, but it took more than six years before he was able to obtain professional status and the rank of 4-dan in April 1997.
Shogi professional
In June 2019, Kimura defeated Yoshiharu Habu to earn the right to challenge Masayuki Toyoshima for the 60th Ōi title. In the title match against Toyoshima, Kimura lost the first two games before coming back to tie the score at two wins apiece. Toyoshima won Game 5 and needed just one more win to defend his title; Kimura, however, won the last two games to win the match 4 games to 3. The victory not only gave Kimura his first major title, but it also made him the oldest first time winner of a major title at the age of 46 years and 3 months, breaking the record of 37 years and 6 months set by Michio Ariyoshi in 1973.
Promotion history
The promotion history for kimura is as follows:
1985: 6-kyū
1988: 1-dan
1997, April 1: 4-dan
1999, April 1: 5-dan
2001, December 17: 6-dan
2003, April 1: 7-dan
2007, April 1: 8-dan
2017, June 26: 9-dan
Titles and other championships
Kimura has been the challenger for a major title seven times, and has won one title; he has also won two non-major-title championships during his career.
Awards and honors
Kimura has received a number of Japan Shogi AssociationAnnual Shogi Awards throughout his career. He won the ""Best New Player" award for 19971998; the "Best Winning Percentage" award for 19981999; the "Best Winning Percentage", "Most Games Won" and "Most games Played" awards for 20002001; the "Fighting-spirit" award for 20082009; and, the “Special Award” for 2019.
