{{short description|Japanese shogi player}} {{Infobox shogi professional | name = Aya Imai | native_name = 今井 絢 | maiden_name = <!--Only applicable to female professionals who married after turning pro--> | image = | image_size = | caption = | born = {{birth date and age|2001|10|25|mf=yes}} | hometown = Nagoya, Japan | nationality = | pro_date = {{event date and age|2023|02|01|2001|10|25}} | badge_no = W-83 | teacher = Masataka Sugimoto | teacher_rank = 8-dan | lifetime_titles = | title = | rank = Women's 1-dan | no_titles = | tournaments = | notable_students = | jsa = 83 | female = yes | website = }} {{nihongo |'''Aya Imai'''|今井 絢|Imai Aya|born October 25, 2001}} is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 1-dan. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shogi.or.jp/player/lady/83.html|script-title=ja:女流棋士データベース: 今井絢|title=Joryū Kishi Dētabēsu: Imai Aya|language=ja|trans-title=Women's Professional Shogi Player Database: Aya Imai|publisher=Japan Shogi Association|access-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref> She learned how to play shogi from her father when she was five years old.<ref name="New4D">{{cite web|url=https://www.shogi.or.jp/news/2023/01/21_39.html|script-title=ja:今井絢さんが2月から女流棋士1級に|title=Imai Aya-san ga Nigatsu kara Joryūkishi Ikkyū ni|language=ja|trans-title=Aya Imai Kimura will be a women's professional 1-kyū from February|date=January 31, 2023|publisher=Japan Shogi Association|access-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref><ref name="CS1">{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no-byline-->|url=https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/627933|script-title=ja:将棋の今井絢さん, 名古屋初の女流棋士に 藤井聡太五冠と同門|title=Shōgi no Imai Aya-san, Nagoya Hatsu no Joryū Kishi ni Fujii Sōta Gokan to Dōmon|language=ja|trans-title=Aya Imai becomes Nagoya's first women's professional shogi player; she has the same teacher as Sōta Fujii 5-crown|date=February 1, 2023|newspaper=Chunichi Shimbun|access-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref> At first, she mainly played against her older brother and continued to improve to the point where she start attending a local shogi school.<ref name="CS2">{{cite news|last=Seko|first=Hiroko|url=https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/630256|url-access=subscription|script-title=ja:奨励会の6年半 ｢意識改革｣|title=Shoreikai no Rokunenhan ｢Ishiki Kaikaku｣|language=ja|trans-title=Six-and-a-half years as an apprentice professional changed Aya Imai's way of thinking|date=February 4, 2023|newspaper=Chunichi Shimbun|access-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref name="CS2" /> 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 {{abbr|JSA|Japan Shogi Association}}'s professional apprentice school instead to try and obtain regular professional status.<ref name="New4D" /><ref name="CS2" /><ref name="AS">{{cite news|last=Kitano|first=Arata|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASR214DWJR10UCVL03L.html|url-access=subscription|script-title=ja:藤井聡太竜王の妹弟子が女流棋士に 今井絢さんが語る ｢藤井先生｣|title=Fujii Sōta Ryūō no Imōto Deshi ga Joryu Kishi ni Imai Aya-san ga Kataru ｢Fujii Sensei｣|language=ja|trans-title=Aya Imai, who has the same shogi teacher as Sōta Fujii Ryūō, obtains women's professional status; she talks about "Fujii Sensei"|date=February 1, 2023|newspaper=Asahi Shimbun|access-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref> At the end of November 2022, she decided to formally leave the apprentice school at the rank of 1-kyū 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.<ref name="CS1" /><ref name="AS" /> She decided to switch over to women's professional shogi, and formally requested to be allowed do so in January 2023.<ref name="AS" /> 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.<ref name="New4D" /><ref name="CS1" /><ref name="AS" />
==Women's shogi professional== ===Promotion history=== Imai's promotion history is as follows.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shogi.or.jp/player/lady/83.html#jsTabE04_02|script-title=ja:女流棋士データベース: 今井絢 昇段履歴|title=Joryū Kishi Dētabēsu: Imai Aya Shōdan Rireki|language=ja|trans-title=Women's Professional Shogi Player Database: Aya Imai Promotion History|publisher=Japan Shogi Association|access-date=August 22, 2023}}</ref>
* 1-kyū: February 1, 2023 * 1-dan: August 20, 2023
Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.
==Personal life== Imai is the first women's professional from Nagoya.<ref name="CS1" /> {{asof|2023|02|post=,}} she is a third-year university student at Doshisha University.<ref name="New4D" /><ref name="CS2" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
<!--==External links== * ShogiHub: [http://shogihub.com/players/XXX3 Imai, Aya]-->
{{Women's Professional Shogi Players}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imai, Aya}} Category:2001 births Category:Living people Category:Japanese shogi players Category:Female shogi players Category:Shogi players from Aichi Prefecture