September 30, 2015
Yuri Toyama, a first-year student in the Faculty of Policy Management, won the East Japan Tournament Women's Division, hosted by the Tohoku Student Shogi Federation and held at the Sendai City Auditorium on August 25 and 26. The East Japan Tournament is a semi-national competition held annually in Sendai City in August, open only to top performers from the spring tournaments in the Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, and Hokushinetsu regions.
The Tohoku Student Shogi Federation includes shogi clubs and associations from over 20 universities in the Kanto region. The women's tournament is held twice a year, in spring and fall, and Ms. Toyama brilliantly secured the championship in her first appearance.
Furthermore, on September 13, she also won the 47th Women's Amateur Meijin-sen, sponsored by SRJ and Eikoh Seminar, held at Arcadia Ichigaya. This tournament is a women's amateur shogi competition hosted by the Japan Shogi Association and supported by The Hochi Shimbun. Many of its past champions are now active as professional women's shogi players.
Great things are also expected from Ms. Toyama in the future.
Comment from Yuri Toyama
This was my first individual women's tournament since the Kanto tournament in May, and although I had won the right to represent the region, I went into it feeling anxious, wondering if my shogi skills had declined or if my opponents had become much stronger. In my first match, I faced one of the top contenders and was trailing from the beginning, but I managed to pull ahead in the endgame and secure a comeback victory. There is another Kanto tournament in early October, and I hope to win it for the second consecutive time.