is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 1-kyū. She is the first women's professional shogi player to come from Nagoya. Early life and becoming a women's professional shogi player Imai was born in Nagoya on October 25, 2001. She learned how to play shogi from her father when she was five years old. At first, she mainly played against her older brother and continued to improve to the point where she start attending a local shogi school. 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. 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 's professional apprentice school instead to try and obtain regular professional status. At the end of November 2022, she decided to formally leave the apprentice school at the rank of 1-kyō 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. She decided to switch over to women's professional shogi, and formally requested to be allowed do so in January 2023. 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. Imai is the first women's professional from Nagoya. she is a third-year university student at Doshisha University. Promotion history Imai's promotion history is as follows. 1-kyū: February 1, 2023 Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks. References 2001 births Living people Japanese shogi players Women's professional shogi players Professional shogi players from Aichi Prefecture