Official News Release

9-Dan Hifumi Katou (76 years old) will receive a citizens special commendation from his hometown Kama-city, Fukuoka.
The commendation ceremony will be included in the Kama-city Combined Memorial Ceremonies held on Sunday, March 27th at Yamada Salvia Park.

Notification of absence has been submitted by the following Ladies Professional players. We appreciat the understanding of the sponsors and related parties of the tournaments held in their absence period.

・Ladies 3-Dan Chisa Hayamizu (33 years old): for personal reasons
Period of absence:　April 1st 2016 ~ March 31st 2017 (continued from the previous)

・Ladies 1-Dan Manaka Inagawa (24 years old): for personal reasons
Period of absence:　April 1st 2016 ~ March 31st 2018

・Ladies 1-kyu Beni Takemata (17 years old): for personal reasons
Period of absence:　April 1st 2016 ~ March 31st 2017

On Saturday, March 5th, 3-Dan Daichi Sasaki has been ranked 3rd place in the 58th Shourei-kai 3-Dan League (October 2015 ~ March 2016) with the game count of 12 wins and 6 losses. This is the second time he was ranked 3rd following the 55th Shourei-kai 3-Dan League (April 2014 ~ September 2014), which gives him the right to enter Free Class. 3-Dan Sasaki has exercised this right and will become Professional 4-Dan on April 1st 2016, as the third new professional player together with Ryuma Tonari, Junpei Ide.

Daichi Sasaki,　professional player ID = 306

Date of birth

May 30th, 1995 (20 years old)

Hometown

Tsushima-city, Nagasaki

Currently resides in

Yokohama, Kanagawa

Pupil of

9-Dan Kouichi Fukaura

Enrollment in Shourei-kai

September 2008

Enrollment in 3-Dan League

October 2013 (since the 54th Shourei-kai 3-Dan League)

Favorite strategy

Side Pawn Picker

Background of starting playing shogi

Being taught by his father at the age of three

Comment

When I lost the first game on the final day, I thought I had lost all chances of promotion. It was unexpected for me that I could obtain the right to Free Class. I am going to do my best in every single game so that I will be able to enter Ranking League.

4-Dan Mirai Aoshima (21 years old) has been promoted to 5-Dan, winning the game described below.

Date of promotion

March 3rd 2016

Game

74th Ranking League C2-class (opponent: 6-Dan Akira Nishio)

Ground of promotion

Promotion to Ranking League C1-class

Round 17 and 18 of the 58th Shouri-kai 3-Dan League (October 2015 ~ March 2016) was played today, and 3-Dan Junpei Ide decided his promotion to 4-Dan with the game count of 12 wins and 6 losses.
3-Dan Ide will be promoted to 4-Dan on April 1st 2016, together with 3-Dan Ryuma Tonari who decided his promotion on February 21st (final game count: 14 wins 4 losses).
The 3rd place was taken by 3-Dan Daichi Sasaki with 12 wins 6 losses. 3-Dan Sasaki has finished 3rd for the second time following the 55th Shourei-kai 3-Dan League (April 2014 ~ September 2014), obtaining the right to enter Free Class based on the regulation.

Ryuma Tonari,　professional player ID = 304

Date of birth

January 17th 1990 (26 years old)

Hometown

Miyazaki-city, Miyazaki

Currently resides in

Fukushima-ward, Osaka

Pupil of

9-Dan Koji Tanigawa

Enrollment to Shourei-kai

September 2000

Enrollment to 3-Dan League

October 2007 (since the 42nd Shourei-kai 3-Dan League)

Favorite strategy

Central Rook

Background of starting playing shogi

By seeing his father and elder brother playing

Comment

I just concentrated on each of my own games, so I didn't notice I had decided my promotion. I felt the reality only after I reported it to my teacher (9-Dan Koji Tanigawa). I hope I can show the fans good games played with my own style, particularly at a big match like the final of Rookies Tournament that I played before.

Junpei Ide,　professional player ID = 305

Date of birth

May 3rd, 1991 (24 years old)

Home town

Yokohama, Kanagawa

Currently resides in

Suginami-ward, Tokyo

Pupil of

9-Dan Noboru Tamura

Enrollment to Shourei-kai

September 2003

Enrollment to 3-Dan League

October 2009 (since the 46th Shourei-kai 3-Dan League)

Favorite strategy

4th-file Rook

Background of starting playing shogi

Being taught by his father

Comment

I came up to 3-Dan relatively quickly, but I had to play in 3-Dan League for such long time that I cannot tell how long it was. I just feel surprised myself at the promotion to 4-Dan. I will keep trying hard so I can appear in a title match.

4-Dan Hiroshi Miyamoto (30 years old) has been promoted to 5-Dan, winning the game described below.

Date of promotion

Thursday, March 3rd 2016

Game

74th Ranking League C2-class (opponent: 8-Dan Tosa)

Ground of promotion

Promotion to Ranking League C1-class

Ladies 3-Dan Sayuri Honda will be absent from the tournaments from March 1st 2016 until August 31st 2016 due to maternity. The tournaments she will be absent from are list below.
We would appreciate the understanding of the sponsors and related parties.

・27th Ladies Ou-i, challenger deciding league (opponent: Ladies 6-Dan Ichiyo Shimizu):　Loss-by-default
・24th Kurashiki-Wisteria:　Absence
・38th Ladies Oushou:　Absence
・6th Ladies Ouza　Absence
・10th Mynavi Open　Absence

The application for the foreign player's online preliminary of the 6th Ricoh-Cup Ladies Ouza Championship has been closed. 20 players from 8 countries (Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Poland, Spain, and Ukraine) have lined up.

The players are divided into two leagues and will play the 1st Round at the online shogi site 81Dojo from February 27th. The final game to decided the foreign guest player will be played by the winner from each league on Saturday, March 26th. All games can be watched on 81Dojo free of charge; please look forward to seeing the games.

The referee of this online preliminary will be Ladies Professional 3-kyu Karolina Styczynska.

＜League table＞
http://81dojo.com/event/RicohCup2016/womens-ouza-online-preliminary.html

＜Schedule＞
February 27th ~ March 13th: 1st Round
March 26th: Final game
May 22nd: 1st Qualify of the 6th Ricoh-Cup Ladies Ouza Championship

Contact info for inquiries:

Executive office of the 6th Ricoh-Cup Ladies Ouza Online Preliminary　　info@81dojo.com

On February 19th, 2016, the title acquisition ceremony of the 5th Ricoh-Cup Ladies Ouza was held at Palace Hotel Tokyo in Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo, celebrating the title acquisition by Ladies Ouza Momoko Katou

Congratulatory speech by the sponsor (Shirou Kondou, CEO of Ricoh)

Congratulatory speech by JSA (Chairman Koji Tanigawa)

Presentation of Ladies Ouza Acquisition Letter

Presentation of the winner's cup

Presentation of memorial gift

Speech of toast: (Katsuyoshi Kondou, Senior Director of Nikkei Newspaper)

Congratulatory speech (Shigeki Nishihara, Mayor of Makinohara-city)

Speech of thanks by Ladies Ouza Momoko Katou
The title match turned out to be a 6-game match, while I and the opponent , Ladies Professional 2-Dan Sae Itou, tried our best to play good games. We know each other very well since the time she was in Shourei-kai, so I thought both of us know almost everything about each other's playing style and character, but inf fact maybe I had not known everything about her shogi.
The opponent always had the initiative, and I was put more and more in a pinch as the games went on. I was so tense in the last game, but I was able to hang in there at the last moment and took the last game. This made me have more confidence in playing shogi.
I am a Ladies Professional title holder and at the same time a Shourei-kai member. No matter what standpoint I take, there is no difference in my desire to become stronger. In official games, sometimes I feel I still have weakness. I definitely want to keep improving my shogi skills.

Presentation of bouquet (by Mr. Watanabe of Ricoh Black Rams rugby team)

Saki Satomi (19 years old) has submited the application for a certification of Ladies Professional 3-kyu. Based on this, she will become Ladies Professional 3-kyu on February 22nd, 2016.
If she meets the conditions described below for becoming Ladies Professional 2-kyu, she will be officially certified as a Ladies Professional player, becoming the third pair of sister players following the Nakakura family and the Oba family.

Name

Saki Satomi

Date of birth

April 28th, 1996 (19 years old)

Hometown

Izumo-city, Shimane

Currently resides in

Izumo-city, Shimane

School career

Graduated from Tsukuba Kaisei High School

Pupil of

9-Dan Keiji Mori

Enrollment to Kenshu-kai

July 2012 (entering E1 class)

Favorite strategy

Swinging Rook

Former achievements

Represented Shimane Prefecture in the National High School Shogi Ryu-ou Tournament

Hobby

Piano

Background of starting playing shogi

From family (as her elder brother and sister started)

Comment

I will keep working on to become much stronger

Conditions for a Ladies 3-kyu to become 2-kyu

1. The number of winning games is as many as that of the participated tournaments in 1 year.
2. The number of winning games is 3/4 time as many as that of the participated tournaments in 2 years.
3. Conditions for becoming Ladies 1-kyu in "Ladies Professional Promotion Regulations" are met.

If none of the above conditions are met within 2 years, the rank of Ladies 3-kyu becomes invalid, in which case one can move back to C2 class of Kenshu-kai.