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On the 10th, shogi player Nishiyama Tomoka Hakurei (31) defeated Fukuma Kana, holder of four women’s titles (34), 4 wins to 1 loss in Game 5 of the 6th Hakurei-sen seven-game match held in Kanazawa City, earning the “Queen Hakurei” title for her fifth Hakurei reign overall and becoming the first woman to secure the right to pro shogi player (4th dan) qualification. Nishiyama had risen to 3rd dan in the Shoreikai (the pro training academy) before switching to the women’s circuit in 2021, and had narrowly missed out in the 2024–25 pro qualifying exam, losing 2 games to 3. On 5ch, while many hailed the historic milestone, others debated the difference between the two paths to qualification — passing the exam outright versus earning rights through the Queen title — and questioned the real skill gap between her and actual pro players.
Shogi player Nishiyama Tomoka Hakurei (31), also a four-time women’s title holder, defeated Fukuma Kana, holder of four women’s titles (34), on the 10th in Game 5 of the 6th Hakurei-sen seven-game match, played at the Hotel Nikko Kanazawa in Kanazawa City. With a match record of 4 wins to 1 loss, she claimed the “Queen Hakurei” title for her fifth Hakurei reign overall, securing the right to pro qualification — a first for a woman.
Should she choose to exercise that right, she would become a 4th-dan pro in the “Free Class,” meaning she would not compete in the Juni-sen ranking matches that determine challengers for the Meijin title. Nishiyama Hakurei climbed to 3rd dan in the Shoreikai, the organization that trains professional players, before switching to the women’s professional ranks in 2021. In her bid for pro status via the qualifying exam held from 2024 to 2025, she fell just short with a 2-3 record. Now, at last, she has pried open the door of history.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
Good evening, Fujii-kun (sarcastically implying the skeptic must secretly be world #1 Sota Fujii himself)
Compared to female Go players, she can totally hold her own
Young 4th dans these days are stronger than most pros anyway
Wait, is that actually something she'd do?
She doesn't have the skill — if she did, she'd have made it through the Shoreikai (the normal pro training track)
She did aim for it, she just didn't make it. She got as far as the final 3rd-dan league
Nishiyama started at the very bottom of the Shoreikai, made it into the 3rd-dan league, and finished as runner-up once
Maybe the final exam should just be: beat someone blindfolded and in handcuffs and leg irons??
That's Satomi Kana
Ranging Rook can't win once the opponent sets up the Static Rook Anaguma fortress
Why do so many women's players favor the "Un-Ranging Rook" style? (a jab pun on 振り飛車/Ranging Rook, swapping in "disadvantageous")
There are quite a lot of people against it — fans especially are against it
It's kind of like how Choco Ball used to give you a prize for one gold Angel mark, and now they'll also give you one for five silver Angel marks (a reference to the candy brand's loyalty-stamp promotion)
Well, it's making news like this, and with a new title her side income will go up too
Playing someone around the middle of C2 would be the fairest test
It's to check whether she's on the same level as someone who just turned pro recently — making her play weak opponents is the one that doesn't make sense
That's exactly the part that feels too cheap
But can she even maintain the Free Class conditions?
Background and Key Points of This Topic
What Nishiyama earned was not a promotion by breaking through the Shoreikai — the academy that trains professional players — but rather the right to a qualifying exam tied to the “Queen” title, earned by winning five women’s titles. Nishiyama switched from 3rd dan in the Shoreikai to the women’s circuit in 2021, and narrowly missed passing the 2024–25 qualifying exam with a 2-3 record. This contrast — falling short via the standard route, yet having the door opened through title-based rights — became the central point of debate in the thread. Comments split between “if she really has the skill, she should just get through the Shoreikai” and “earning the right via the Queen title is itself a result earned by the rules,” with many posts also weighing her skill level based on her run in the 3rd-dan league and her Ranging-Rook-centered style. It’s not widely known that, under the system, exercising this right would make her a 4th-dan pro in the Free Class who doesn’t take part in the ranking matches — and readers may also be confused about how that would work alongside her status as a four-time women’s title holder.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Shogi] Nishiyama Tomoka Hakurei Secures First-Ever Women’s Pro Qualification Rights — A Historic Achievement for the Shogi World“
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