A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 shōgi kishi or プロ棋士 puro kishi "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players.
There are two categories of professional players: regular professional and women's professional. All regular professional shogi players are members of the Japan Shogi Association (JSA). However, only regular professional players, who are as of yet all male, are considered to be full-fledged members. Women's professional players belong to groups distinct from regular professional players. In Japanese, the term 棋士 kishi only refers to regular professional players to the exclusion of women's professionals, who are termed 女流棋士 joryū kishi.
History
During the Edo period (1603–1868), shogi followed an iemoto system centered around three families (schools): the , the and the . Titles such as Meijin were hereditary and could only be held by members of these three families. These three schools were supported by the Tokugawa shogunate and thus controlled the professional shogi world up until 1868 when the Meiji Restoration took place. By the time , the eighth and last head of the Itō school and the 11th Hereditary Meijin, died in 1893, the influence of the families had decreased to such an extent that they had no real power at all.
The earliest form of the JSA was founded on September 8, 1924, as the later renamed as the .
Ranking
All shogi players are ranked by a dan system. In the current system, apprentice players become professional when they achieve the rank of 4-dan. Apprentice players aspiring to become professionals are ranked from 6-kyū to 3-dan. Amateur and professional dan ranks are not equivalent with amateur 3- to 5-dan being roughly equivalent to apprentice professional 6-kyū and amateur 2- to 4-dan being roughly equivalent to women's professional 2-kyū.
Unlike western chess, shogi players do not have official Elo ratings; however, unofficial Elo scores may be calculated by shogi fans. Unlike Elo scores (which may increase or decrease), players who achieve a certain dan are never demoted to a lower dan. Thus, the dan system may be thought as a performance milestone indicator or somewhat like the peak Elo rating that is used in western chess.
Apart from the dan system, players are also ranked according to their results in the Meijin ranking tournament. Their performance in the ranking tournament may also affect their ranking in the dan system. Unlike the dan system, a player may be demoted to a lower Meijin ranking tournament class (as well as promoted).
Professional players
JSA professional shogi players (正規棋士 seiki kishi or 棋士 kishi for short) are ranked from four to nine dan. Players receive a monthly salary according to their rank as well as game fees based upon performance, which historically have mostly come from media conglomerates in exchange for exclusive publishing rights. In addition, popular players may also earn income from teaching, publishing, media appearances, etc.
The is a voluntary organization operating with the JSA made up of all current regular professionals and some JSA women's professionals. It was founded in 2009 and helps organize events designed to further the spread of shogi as well as foster training and professionalism among shogi professionals.
Training group system The JSA offers official "training" or "study" groups (研修会 kenshūkai) in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sendai and Sapporo where promising young amateur players can play instructional games against shogi professionals as well as official ranking games against other players of similar strength. These groups are open to all amateur-dan-ranked male and female players aged 20 years (25 years for females wanting to become a women's professional. In this case a master is required) and under who can pass the entrance examination and pay the required tuition and other fees. Players are divided into seven groups from S to F according to playing strength: S is the top group, while the strength of a typical Group F player is generally considered to be amateur 2-dan. Each group is further divided into two sub-groups, 1 and 2, with promotion and demotion from one group or sub-group to another being determined by actual game results. Players who perform at high levels in the top groups can qualify for entry into the Apprentice School (for Group S or A2, depending upon age) or provisional women's professional status (for Group C1) if they satisfy certain other conditions.
Apprenticeship
Strong amateurs wishing to become professional must be accepted into the JSA's Apprentice School (新進棋士奨励会 shinshin kishi shōreikai). Apprentice professionals are initially ranked from 6-kyū to 3-dan based upon their results on the apprentice school entry exam or performance in certain amateur tournaments. Apprentices are guided through the system by their master (師匠 shishō) an active or retired professional who acts as their sponsor and teacher and are promoted or demoted in rank based upon performance.
Players who successfully move up the ranks to 3-dan participate in the 3-dan League (三段リーグ san-dan riigu). This league is held twice yearly and the two top finishers of each league are promoted to 4-dan, thus gaining professional status. The 3-dan League was established in 1987 with an initial limit of four players qualifying for 4-dan promotion in response to a concern that the average of five to six new professionals every year was diluting the professional pool.
Amateurs of either gender can apply for entry into the apprentice school, but they must be promoted to 1-dan by age 21 and 4-dan by age 26 and those who are not must leave the school. Those newly promoted to 3-dan are given at least five chances to obtain promotion to professional status in the 3-dan League, with anyone under age 29 who can maintain a win rate over 50% in 3-dan League being allowed to stay. Anyone over age 21 who drops from 1-dan to 1-kyū must achieve promotion to 1-dan again in six months or leave the school.
In August 2019, the JSA clarified its position on current women's professional shogi players who obtain "regular" professional status via the apprentice school system. The JSA stated that women's professional shogi players who qualify for "regular" shogi professional status through the 3-dan league will be given the option of retaining their women's professional status and continuing to participate in women-only tournaments as long as they request to do so within two weeks of the date they are officially awarded regular professional status.
Professional Admission Test
There is an alternative way for amateurs to obtain professional status called the Professional Admission Test (プロ編入試験 puro henyū shiken) which was established by the JSA in 2006 in response to a former apprentice school 3-dan's successful attempt to become a professional. Shōji Segawa was unable to gain promotion to 4-dan professional before turning 26 in 1996, and thus was required to withdraw from the JSA's apprentice school. Segawa continued to play shogi as an amateur and won a number of national amateur tournaments which allowed him to qualify for tournaments involving professionals. Segawa's record of 17 wins and 5 losses against professionals in these tournaments led him to request that the JSA grant him another opportunity to become a professional. In response, the JSA made an ad hoc arrangement of six games for Segawa to play against a variety of opponents and stated that he would be granted 4-dan professional status if he won three games. Segawa's opponents included four professional players, one women's professional player, and one apprentice school 3-dan. The games were held from July to November 2005, and Segawa achieved his third win by winning game 5 on November 6, 2005, and was granted professional status by the JSA on the same day. Decades before Segawa, also passed an ad hoc test to gain professional status. In 2014, the JSA announced the qualifications for those wishing to apply for the Professional Admission Test. In July 2014, the JSA announced that it had accepted the application submitted by amateur Kenji Imaizumi, a 41-year-old former apprentice school 3-dan. Imaizumi became the first amateur to successfully obtain professional status under the new system in December 2014. On February 25, 2020, Shōgo Orita, a former 3-dan apprentice school player who has a popular YouTube channel, became the second person under the new system and the fourth amateur overall to obtain professional status. On February 13, 2023, Reo Koyama became the third person under the new system and the fifth overall to obtain professional status.
In August 2019, the JSA clarified its position on the test as it pertains to current women's professional shogi players. The JSA stated that women's professional shogi players who successfully pass the test to obtain "regular" shogi professional status will retain their women's professional status and can continue to participate in women-only tournaments.
Women's professionals
Women's professional players are in groups distinct from regular professional players. Currently, no female has yet qualified to become a regular professional although over the years there have been several female apprentice professionals competing to obtain such status, with Kana Fukuma, Tomoka Nishiyama and Nanami Naka getting as far as the rank of 3-dan.
There are two guilds of women's professionals: the Japan Shogi Association guild and the Ladies Professional Shogi-players' Association of Japan guild. Before the creation of the guilds, women were historically not allowed to become professional players.
JSA
The JSA has a separate system for women's professionals (女流棋士 Joryū Kishi) and ranks them from 3-kyū to 6-dan. Women's professionals are ranked and promoted differently than professionals (kishi) by the JSA. , there are 58 active JSA women's professionals. Strong women's professionals are able to participate in some tournaments with men, but most professional tournaments are restricted to regular professionals. However, there are also major title matches and other tournaments for women only. Many of the women's tournaments are also open to the public for amateur female players who are not members of the JSA or LPSA. Until the 1990s, the strongest women's professionals were considered to be roughly equivalent to 1- or 2-dan apprentices in playing strength. In recent years, the overall strength of women's professionals has improved and two ( and ) have had performed well enough against regular professional in official games to qualify for the Professional Admission Test.
Strong female amateur players aged 25 or under who wish to become a women's professional must be accepted into the JSA's Kenshūkai (研修会 "training group"). Female amateurs who are promoted to Class C1 are granted the rank of provisional women's professional 3-kyū. Those achieving the provisional rank of 3-kyū have two years to gain promotion to the rank of 2-kyū and thus obtain regular women's professional status.
Prior to 1984, women's professionals were determined by their performance in national tournaments. From 1984 until March 2009, amateurs aspiring to become women professionals competed against each other in the Women's Professional Apprentice League (女流育成会 Joryū Ikuseikai), a system similar to the 3-dan League of the Professional Apprentice School. The winner of the league was promoted to women's professional 2-kyū. In April 2009, the JSA disbanded this system and merged it into the training group system.
Akiko Takojima joined the JSA in 1974 becoming the first women's professional. She was also the first female to join the Apprentice School and reached 1-dan before withdrawing. She later left the JSA to join the LPSA.