Professional shogi player

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.

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.

Unlike the dan system, a player may be demoted to a lower Meijin ranking tournament class (as well as promoted).

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.

[7][8][9] In addition, popular players may also earn income from teaching, publishing, media appearances, etc.

[11] 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.

[12] 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).

[13] 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.

[7] Players who successfully move up the ranks to 3-dan participate in the 3-dan League (三段リーグ san-dan riigu).

[19] 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.

[16] Decades before Segawa, Motoji Hanamura [ja] also passed an ad hoc test to gain professional status.

[22] 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.

[24] 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.

[27] In August 2019, the JSA clarified its position on the test as it pertains to current women's professional shogi players.

[30]: 23 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.

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.

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").

The association was founded in 1989 and helps organize events involving JSA women's professionals designed to further the spread of shogi.

[55] In October 2005, professional players were instructed that they were banned from playing public games against computers without the permission of the JSA.

In March 2007, reigning Ryūō titleholder Akira Watanabe defeated the program "Bonanza" in the first official game since the ban was instituted,[59] but women's professional Ichiyo Shimizu became the first professional, man or woman, to lose to a computer in an official game when she lost to "Akara 2010" in October 2010.

[57][61] Shin'ichi Satō became the first active male professional to lose to a computer when he lost to the program "Ponanza" in March 2013,[62] and Hiroyuki Miura became the first active "Class A" professional to lose to a computer when he lost to the program "GPS Shogi" in April 2013.

Miura was participating in a match between five active male professionals and five computer programs held in March and April 2013.

[66] On February 22, 2017, the JSA announced that the "Denou Sen" matches between computers and professional players sponsored by Dwango would end in 2017.

[68] In October 2016, the JSA announced new rules which require players to keep their smartphones or other electronic devices in their lockers during official match games.

Players will also be banned from leaving the JSA buildings in Tokyo and Osaka during official games.

As computer shogi programs have gotten stronger, the number of players using them for match preparation and post-game analysis has increased, giving rise to concerns about the possibility of cheating during games.

[69] On February 10, 2017, the JSA announced that two professional players were the first to be fined for leaving the playing site during official games under the new rules.

The JSA fined each player 50% of the amount they were to receive as a game fee and strongly warned them to avoid making the same mistake again.