Madoka Kitao (北尾 まどか, Kitao Madoka, born January 21, 1980) is a Japanese retired
women's professional shogi player who achieved the rank of women's professional 2-
dan.[1]
On April 3, 2023, the
Japan Shogi Association (JSA) posted on its official website that Kitao had met the criteria for mandatory retirement for women's professionals, but that her retirement would not take effect until the completion of her last official game.[3] On July 11, 2023, the JSA posted that Kitao's retirement became official on July 10, 2023, upon the completion of her game against
Saori Shimai.[4] Kitao finised her career with a record of 110 wins and 187 losses for a winning percentage of 37%.[5]
Shogi-related business and promotion activities
Kitao, together with former women's professional
Maiko Fujita [
ja] created the game
dōbutsu shogi, a simplified version of
shogi designed to help beginners learn the game, in 2008: Kitao came up with the rules of the game, while Fujita designed the game's pieces.[6] She is also the
representative director and founder of
Nekomado (株式会社ねこまど), a shogi promotion, education and publishing company.[6]
Kitao is also credited with discovering
Karolina Styczyńska while playing online shogi on the website 81Dojo as part of her efforts at promoting shogi outside of Japan among non-Japanese players. Kitao was quite impressed with the strength of Styczyńska's play, eventually found out who she was and then made arrangements for her to come and practice shogi in Japan.[7] Styczyńska, through Kitao's further encouragement and support, eventually went on to become the first non-Japanese to be awarded any type of professional status by the Japan Shogi Association.[8]
On June 12, 2016, Katagami posted on his personal blog that he had gotten divorced some time ago, and that he had gotten married again to someone else about two months earlier.[11] The following day, Kitao
tweeted that she and Katagami had gotten divorced about two years earlier in response; her tweet included a link to Katagami's blog post.[12]
^"Dai Nijūyonkai Asahi Opun Shōgi Senshuken Junkesshō Daiichikyoku: Nishimura Monka no Kesshō Naruka" 第24回朝日オープン将棋選手権 準決勝第1局: 西村門下の決勝なるか [24th Asahi Open Cup Semi-final Game 1: Will Nsihimura's protegee advance to the finals]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). February 23, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2024. ところで本日, 片上大輔四段(24)と北尾まどか女流初段(25)の婚約が発表された.北尾女流初段は三浦と同じく, 西村一義九段門下である. [tr. By the way, the engamement of Katagami Daisuke 4-dan (24) and Madoka Kitao women's professional 1-dan (25) was announced today; Kitao women's professional 1-dan, like Miura, is also a student of Kazuyoshi Nishimura 9-dan
^Katagami, Daisuke (June 12, 2016).
"Gohōkoku" ご報告 [Announcement]. Daichan no Kobeya (in Japanese). Retrieved April 19, 2024.