Aya Imai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Aya Imai | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 今井 絢 |
| Born | October 25, 2001 |
| Hometown | Nagoya, Japan |
| Career | |
| Achieved professional status | February 1, 2023 (aged 21) |
| Badge Number | W-83 |
| Rank | Women's 1-dan |
| Teacher | Masataka Sugimoto (8-dan) |
| Websites | |
| JSA profile page | |
Aya Imai (今井 絢, Imai Aya; born October 25, 2001) is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 1-dan. She is the first women's professional shogi player to come from Nagoya.
Imai was born in Nagoya on October 25, 2001.[1] She learned how to play shogi from her father when she was five years old.[2][3] At first, she mainly played against her older brother and continued to improve to the point where she start attending a local shogi school.[4] As a second-grade elementary school student, she entered the Tokai branch of the Japan Shogi Association's training group system under the tutelage of shogi professional Masataka Sugimoto.[4] By June 2016, she had performed well enough in the training school system to qualify for women's professional status even though she was still a third-year junior high school student, but decided to enter the JSA's professional apprentice school instead to try and obtain regular professional status.[2][4][5] At the end of November 2022, she decided to formally leave the apprentice school at the rank of 1-kyū because she did not feel she would be able to achieve promotion to the next rank of 1-dan in accordance with JSA apprentice school's rules which require that apprentice professionals achieve said rank within one year of turning 21 years old.[3][5] She decided to switch over to women's professional shogi, and formally requested to be allowed do so in January 2023.[5] The JSA accepted her request and awarded her the rank of women's professional 1-kyū since that rank she had achieved as an apprentice professional.[2][3][5]