is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 3- dan.

Early life, amateur shogi and apprentice professional

Naka was born on August 7. 1998, in

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

, Japan. She learned how to play shogi from her older brother when she was a first-grade elementary school student. While in elementary school, Naka was

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

's representative in several national elementary school tournaments for girls, and won the in 2008 as a fourth-grade student and in 2009 as a fifth-grade student. She also represented Hyōgo Prefecture in the (for boys and girls) in 2008 (33rd Elementary School Student Meijin Tournament), 2009 (34th Elementary School Student Meijin Tournament) and 2010 (35th Elementary School Student Meijin Tournament), finishing tied for third in the 2010 tournament after losing to future

professional shogi player A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 ''shōgi kishi'' or プロ棋士 ''puro kishi'' "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players. There are two categories of professional playe ...

in the tournament's semi-finals. Naka entered the 's apprentice professional school in September 2011 at the rank of apprentice professional 6-kyū as a first-year junior high school student under the

mentorship Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

of shogi professional

Keita Inoue } is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9- dan. He is an executive director of the Japan Shogi Association. Early life and apprenticeship Keita Inoue was born on January 17, 1964, in Ashiya, Hyōgo. In October 1979, he entered the Japa ...

. She was promoted to apprentice professional 1-dan in 2018, and apprentice professional 2-dan in February 2020. In September 2020, Naka become the third female overall and the first in five years to be promoted to apprentice professional 3-dan. Naka participated in the JSA's apprentice professional 3-dan League for eight seasons from the 68th 3-dan League (October 2020March 2021) until the 75th 3-dan League (April 2024September 2024), but was required to leave the apprentice school after turning 26 years old due to apprentice professional school age requirements. Female apprentice professionals ranked 2-kyū or higher who leave the apprentice professional school but otherwise satisfy the criteria for women's professional status are given two weeks to notify the JSA of their intention to become a women's professional. On October 4, 2024, the posted on its official website that Naka had made such a request, and that it had been approved. The JSA also posted that Naka would be awarded the rank of women's professional 3-dan in accordance with its rules regarding such matters since that was the highest rank she achieved as an apprentice professional, and also that her change in status would become official on November 1, 2024.

Women's shogi professional

Naka's debut game as a women's professional came on December 19, 2024, when she faced Saki Kawamata in a

Women's Meijin The is a Go competitions, Go competition. The Women's Meijin is the female version of the Meijin (go), Meijin title. This title is sponsored by Fuji Evening Newspaper and Nippon Life Insurance. The winner's purse is 5,100,000 Yen ($48,000). T ...

league preliminary round game; Naka won the game in 92 moves.　Naka won her next five games before losing to in the semi-finals of a 52nd

preliminary block tournament on February 19, 2025.

Playing style

Naka has stated she does not really have a favorite

shogi opening A shogi opening ( ) is the sequence of initial moves of a shogi game before the middle game. The more general Japanese term for the beginning of the game is ()''.'' A ''Jōseki#Jōseki in shogi, jōseki'' () is the especially recommended sequen ...

, but her mentor has described her as having an attacking-style and being an "

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

" who is proficient in both

Ranging Rook Ranging Rook or Swinging Rook (振り飛車 ''furibisha'') openings in shogi position the rook to the center or left of the player's board to support an attack there. Ranging Rook strategies used in Ranging Rook vs Static Rook are among the old ...

and

Static Rook Static Rook (居飛車 ''ibisha'') Shogi opening, openings is one of two major opening strategies in shogi. In the opening, the major piece of the rook fights from its starting position on the right side of the board (the 2nd file for Black, Sente, ...

openings.

Promotion history

The promotion history for Naka is given below. * 3-dan: November 1, 2024 Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naka, Nanami Japanese shogi players Japan Shogi Association players Living people Female shogi players Shogi players from Hyōgo Prefecture 1998 births