Ryōko Chiba (千葉涼子 ''Chiba Ryōko'', née 涼子碓井 Ryōko Usui, born April 21, 1980) is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 4-

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 ...

. She is a two-time winner of the title.

Women's shogi professional

Chiba's (then known as Ryōko Usui) first appearance in a women's professional shogi major title match came in 1998 when she challenged

Ichiyo Shimizu is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 7-dan. In May 2017, Shimizu became the first woman to be elected as an executive director to the Japan Shogi Association's board of directors. Early life Shimizu was born on January 9, 1969 ...

for the 6th ; Chiba lost the match 2 games to 1. That same year Chiba also challenged Shimizu for the 25th

Women's Meijin The is a Go competition. The Women's Meijin is the female version of the Meijin title. This title is sponsored by Fuji Evening Newspaper and Nippon Life Insurance , also known as or is the largest Japanese life insurance company by reve ...

title, but once again lost (3 games to 1). In 1999 and 2000, Chiba yet again challenged Shimizu in a major title matches. She lost the 10th and 11th title matches respectively by the scores of 3 games to 1 and 3 games to none. Later in 2000, Chiba won her first tournament as a women's professional when she defeated

Hiroe Nakai (born June 24, 1969 in Wakkanai, Hokkaido) is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 6-dan. She is a former women's shogi professional major title holder, having won 19 major titles throughout her career, and has been awarded the li ...

3 games to 1 to win the 5th . Chiba and Nakai met once again the following year in the finals of the 6th Kajima Cup Tournament, but this time Nakai won 3 games to 1. In 2002, Chiba challenged Nakai for the 29th Women's Meijin title and was leading the match 2 games to 1 after three games. Chiba was, however, unable to pick up the third win she needed to capture the title, and Nakai came back to win the match 3 games to 2. Chiba once again challenged for the Women's Meijin title in 2004, but lost the 31st Women's Meijin match to Shimizu 3 games to 1. Chiba finally won her first women's professional shogi major title in June 2005 when she defeated Nakai 3 games to none to win the 27th title. The following year, Nakai once again challenged Chiba in the 28th Women's Ōshō title match, but this time it was Chiba coming back to win Games 4 and 5 to successfully defend her title 3 games to 2. Chiba defended her Women's Ōshō against Shimizu in 2007 and started well by winning Game 1, but Shimizu won the next three games to capture the 29th Women's Ōshō match 3 games to 1.

Promotion history

Chiba 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. * Women's Professional Apprentice League: 1994 * 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, 1994 * 1-kyū: April 1, 1996 * 1-dan: October 21, 1996 * 2-dan: October 16, 1998 * 3-dan: April 25, 2002 * 4-dan: April 21, 2011 Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.

Titles and other championships

Chiba has appeared in major title matches nine times and has won a total of two titles. In addition to major titles, Chiba has won one other shogi championship.

Major titles

Other championships

Note: Tournaments marked with an asterisk (*) are no longer held or currently suspended.

Awards and honors

Chiba received the Japan Shogi Association's "Women's Professional"

Annual Shogi Award The Annual Shogi Awards (将棋大賞 ''shōgi taishō'') are a number of prizes awarded yearly by the Japan Shogi Association to professional and amateur shogi players who have achieved particular success. The first Annual Shogi Awards were pre ...

for the April 2005March 2006 shogi year.

Personal life

Chiba's husband, Sakio Chiba is also a shogi professional. The couple married in May 2003, and have two daughters.

References

External links

* ShogiHub
Chiba, Ryoko
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiba, Ryoko Japanese shogi players Living people Women's professional shogi players Professional shogi players from Toyama Prefecture Women's Ōshō 1980 births