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The story
Game 4 of the 6th Hakuryō title match’s best-of-seven series was held in Kyoto on September 26th, with Hakuryō title holder Nishiyama Tomoka defeating challenger Fukuma Kana (holder of four women’s titles) in 125 moves, putting her ahead 3-1 in the series and just one win away from successfully defending her title. If Nishiyama defends, it will be her 5th Hakuryō championship overall, making her the first woman to qualify for “kishi” (full professional) status. Game 5 is scheduled for October 10th in Kanazawa. On the forum thread, opinions were divided over whether it’s fair to grant professional qualification based solely on women’s title results, and whether there’s any real “guarantee of playing strength” behind it.
Sat, Sep 26, 7:07 PM
Game 4 of the best-of-seven 6th Hakuryō title match, a women’s shogi title series, was held on the 26th in Kyoto, where Hakuryō title holder Nishiyama Tomoka (31) defeated challenger Fukuma Kana (34), holder of four women’s titles, in 125 moves, taking a 3-1 series lead and moving one win away from defending her title.
If Nishiyama successfully defends, it will be her 5th Hakuryō championship overall, earning her the right to become the first woman to attain professional “kishi” status. Fukuma, the challenger, now has no more losses to spare. Game 5 will be held on October 10th in Kanazawa.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Yeah, there is.
She just needs to get used to managing her clock in the ranking tournament and she'll be fine.
Like in today's game, Nishiyama plays in seconds once she sees a winning line, but in longer games she should probably use a bit more time.
Her playing strength is more than good enough.
There's a decent amount, yeah~
She can beat them. 4-dans range from strong to weak, you know.
No, I think the point is more like — isn't it weird that "the weaker end of 4-dan" is being used as the bar?
This person's beaten 6-dans and 7-dans too, hasn't she?
Who's the weakest 4-dan pro, anyway?
Going 14 wins and finishing as runner-up in the 3-dan league already showed she had more than enough playing strength.
But apparently she can keep holding women's titles even after turning pro.
If she wins, the path opens up for her too — I bet the reasoning is there's no point worrying about it.
Even when people talk about "fairness," everyone knows the Association already does plenty of unfair things anyway.
She's going to reign for a while too.
Exactly.
5 Hakuryō titles isn't something achieved easily.
Just count how few pros have managed 5 Meijin titles — looks easy until you actually check.
Or… is holding both actually allowed?
It is allowed.
If anything, the women's-event sponsors wouldn't allow her to be barred from holding both.
Is it simply a personal style matchup thing?
They've played each other more than 100 times now, so they know each other's tactics inside out, which produces board positions you don't see anywhere else.
That's interesting in its own right.
"Guarantee of playing strength" ← that's a quote taken out of context.
[What actually happened]
Fujii sat in his pre-assigned seat, second row from the front.
He was speaking based on the Shogi Association's stated mission of "spreading and developing shogi, and improving technical skill."
He was asking for confirmation about what could happen if this system were run long-term.
He said positive things, bringing up sponsors and the increase in the Hakuryō match's prize money.
[What the article did]
Made it sound like Fujii chose to sit in the front row on his own initiative.
Made it sound like he's denying women pros' playing strength and opposing the system favoring women.
Made it sound like he's at odds with Habu, the chairman, and Association executives.
Made it sound like he doesn't understand sponsors or money and isn't thinking about the growth of the shogi world.
This is what became clear from information the pros themselves put out after the article came out.
The way Re: #39 phrased it makes it sound like Fujii himself said this about Nishiyama's playing strength.
That's why I called it fake.
Also, like Re: #41 said, he didn't actually give an opinion.
Asking for confirmation and stating an opinion are two different things.
To compete in the ranking tournament, she'd have to get out of the Free Class first.
Escaping the Free Class only counts her best results, so she should be able to get out before the time limit runs out.
Re: #47
I was strongly against becoming a "kishi" based solely on women's results, but if she still has to clear the Free Class, that might just barely be acceptable.
It's true he asked whether it could be guaranteed.
It's a world where playing strength and results equal the right to speak up, so Fujii is about the only one who can voice an opinion in front of Habu — someone had to be the one to say it.
Though calling it "Fujii's complaint" does seem like the tabloid's spin on it.
If she loses, she just won't be able to stay there. That's the guarantee.
Honestly, that's the part they should be cutting loose.
Shogi and go are basically one giant mutual-support club, after all.
They'll just sink together with the newspapers (their traditional sponsors).
The old guys are just declining with age. What's the problem with that?
Every single year some pro ends up with a "miserable result," though.
Regardless of how Nishiyama performs as a pro, this system itself is bad.
Background and Key Points of Debate
One reason Nishiyama Tomoka has been running away with the series against Fukuma Kana is that the two have already played over 100 games in women’s title matches, resulting in a highly specialized style of play where each knows the other’s repertoire inside out. Because professional qualification here is granted based solely on results in women’s titles, doubts about a “guarantee of playing strength” remain persistent on the forum. That said, even after qualifying, a player still has to break out of the “Free Class” to compete in the official ranking tournament, which serves as a fresh test of ability. There’s also the matter of a tabloid report claiming Fujii Sōta voiced complaints about the system — some point out that this was actually a remark taken out of context from a Shogi Association meeting, where he simply asked for clarification on how the system would be run, creating a gap between the headline and what was actually said.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Shogi] Hakuryō Title Holder Nishiyama Tomoka Wins Game 4 for Her 3rd Victory — One Win From Becoming First Woman “Kishi” — “I’ll Get in Condition and Take On the Challenge”.”
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