is a Japanese retired women's professional shogi player who achieved the rank of women's professional 2-

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

Women's shogi professional

Promotion history

Kitao has been

promoted Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

as follows: * 2-

kyū is a Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in tea ceremony, flower arranging, Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, levels or degrees of proficiency or experience. In Mandarin Chin ...

: October 1, 2000 * 1-kyū: April 1, 2001 * 1-dan: April 1, 2003 * 2-dan: August 1, 2013 * Retired: July 10, 2023 Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.

Retirement

On April 3, 2023, the

Japan Shogi Association The , or JSA, is the primary organizing body for professional shogi in Japan. The JSA sets the professional calendar, negotiates sponsorship and media promotion deals, helps organize tournaments and title matches, publishes shogi-related materia ...

(JSA) posted on its official website that Kitao had met the criteria for mandatory retirement for women's professionals, but that her retirement would not take effect until the completion of her last official game. On July 11, 2023, the JSA posted that Kitao's retirement became official on July 10, 2023, upon the completion of her game against

Saori Shimai is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 2-dan. she is serving as an executive director of Ladies Professional Shogi-players' Association of Japan (LPSA). Women's shogi professional Promotion history Shimai's promotion history i ...

. Kitao finised her career with a record of 110 wins and 187 losses for a winning percentage of 37%.

Shogi-related business and promotion activities

Kitao, together with former women's professional created the game dōbutsu shogi, a simplified version of

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōgi'' ...

designed to help beginners learn the game, in 2008: Kitao came up with the rules of the game, while Fujita designed the game's pieces. She is also the

representative director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

and founder of Nekomado (株式会社ねこまど), a shogi promotion, education and publishing company. Kitao is also credited with discovering

Karolina Styczyńska Karolina Fortin ( (), Japanese: カロリーナ・ステチェンスカ; born June 17, 1991) is a retired Polish women's professional shogi player who achieved the rank of 1-dan. She is the first non-Japanese to be awarded professional status b ...

while playing online shogi on the website ''

81Dojo 81Dojo (Japanese: ''hachi-jū-ichi dōjō,'' ''hachi-jū-ichi'' or ''hachi-ichi'') is a non-profit internet shogi server and internet forum. While the site is based in Japan, there is an additional English language version of the website, making i ...

'' as part of her efforts at promoting shogi outside of Japan among non-Japanese players. Kitao was quite impressed with the strength of Styczyńska's play, eventually found out who she was and then made arrangements for her to come and practice shogi in Japan. Styczyńska, through Kitao's further encouragement and support, eventually went on to become the first non-Japanese to be awarded any type of professional status by the Japan Shogi Association.

Women's shogi professional

Promotion history

Retirement

Shogi-related business and promotion activities

References

External links