Critics claim it’s an unfair advantage, but it’s one step closer to equality for Japan’s top women players in a male-dominated world.

Shogi is often described as being the Japanese equivalent of chess, and there are certainly some similarities between the two, but the rules are distinct with a completely different set of strategies.

▼ Most sets also require being able to read some kanji to know what the pieces are.

Much like chess, there is also a professional league, in which players compete for different titles through tournaments, like Meijin and Osho.  Tomoka Nishiyama, holder of three women’s titles, recently underwent the Professional Admissions Test to join the non-gendered general pro league only to fail at the final hurdle. Going into her final match against a professional league player with a score of two wins to two losses, and despite using the strong opening strategy she is known for, she was unable to clinch that last much-needed victory, thus failing to enter the ranks of general league professional players. Sadly, unlike pro-wrestling, your opponent is unlikely to just sit there and wait for you to unleash your signature move.

▼ “Come. Do your worst.”

Since the women’s league and the general league operate under different systems, had Nishiyama been fortunate to win the match, it would have made her the first-ever female professional shogi player, as well as the sixth person to pass the Professional Admissions Test since its inception. With only four players passing the test in the last twenty years, it’s not a simple feat to achieve.

Not only do you need to have a track record of excellent results in tournaments against professionals just to be eligible for the test, you also need to achieve three wins in a series of games against players who have newly advanced to the ranks of professionals, after which you are given the rank of fourth dan and become a pro shogi player yourself.

However, most pros follow the standard method of joining the Japan Shogi Association’s Apprentice School, known as Shoreikai. Apprentices can gradually advance through the ranks through years of intense practice and competitions, living and breathing shogi and rising from first dan to second, third, and onward, unless they fail to reach fourth dan by the age of 26, in which case they face automatic expulsion. There is also the slim chance for special admission to the professional league by the JSA in very extraordinary cases, but examples of this are exceedingly rare.

For pro women players, a new route to the general professional league just opened up. On June 6, the recently-elected first female JSA president in history, Ichiyo Shimizu, announced that should a player win the women’s league title of Hakurei five times in total, she will earn the honorary lifetime title of Queen Hakurei, and be granted the right to enter the Free Class of professional shogi players, bypassing the test and giving them a clear path to the general ranked league. Tomoka Nishiyama, having won the title three times out of a total of four, is poised to be the first potential Queen Hakurei and first female professional shogi player in the general league.

The entry point for holders of the Queen Hakurei title is shared by those who pass the Professional Admissions test: the Free Class. It is a non-league category for pro players, who are subject to a minimum number of games that must be played each year, although they have more freedom to decline matches than regular pros. It’s also where demoted players from the regular league end up until they requalify.

Of course, when the status quo is challenged, there will be blustering naysayers jumping out of the woodwork, and online reactions to the Queen Hakurei system haven’t been entirely positive. However, with two of the strongest female players attempting a test that only a handful of men have passed since it began, and Nishiyama’s challenge almost succeeding, it demonstrates that the world of women’s shogi is not without talent. Perhaps with an extra route open to tread, we will soon see the first female pro player in the general league who will go on to inspire a future generation of young girls, ultimately injecting the sport with a swath of new talent.

Source: NHK via Jin115, Yomiuri Shimbun
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)
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