Toramaru Shibano

Shibano Toramaru was born 9 November 1999 in Kanagawa prefecture, Kantō region, Japan.

He plays for the Tokyo branch of the Japanese Go Association (also known as the Nihon Ki-in) and is ranked as a 9 dan professional.

[1] He says that he started to play Go under the influence of his parents who were fans of Hikaru no Go, a Japanese manga series based on the game.

[citation needed] In September 2017, as a result of winning the Ryusei tournament in August (where he beat Yo Seiki 7P), he was promoted to seven dan.

[4] Shibano's successes continued in 2018, including winning the 4th Japan-China Ryusei tournament in April (beating Ke Jie 9P) and coming second in the 25th Agon Cup in October (to Ichiriki Ryō 8P).