About

Karolina Styczyńska

First foreign shogi professional. Currently ladies professional 1 kyu.

She started playing shogi in 2008 when she was inspired by the manga “Naruto”. At first she practiced shogi over the internet.

In 2011 she was invited to Japan by ladies professional Madoka Kitao. After that she decided that she wants to pursue the dream to become a professional shogi player.

In 2012 and 2013 she was invited to Ricoh Joryu Oza cup as a foreign guest and she won two games against ladies professionals. This achievement brought attention of Japanese media.

The same year she joined Kenshukai (“professional school”) in order to become a professional as the first non-Japanese female. After two years she advanced to the C1 class and obtained a temporary license (valid for two years) as the first ladies professional 3kyu in October 10th, 2015.

Meantime, in 2014 Karolina won two big amateur tournaments: European Shogi Championship and World Open Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

After one year of playing official tournament games against other ladies professionals, in February 20th, 2017 Karolina formally became the first foreign shogi professional player by getting promoted to ladies professional 2kyu.

In April 1st, 2017 promoted to ladies professional 1 kyu.