Momoko Katō

Momoko Katō
Katō at an event in 2019.
Native name	加藤 桃子
Born	(1993-10-06) October 6, 1993 (age 31)
Hometown	Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture
Career
Achieved professional status	April 1, 2019(2019-04-01) (aged 25)
Badge Number	W-67
Rank	Women's 4-dan
Teacher	Terutaka Yasue [ja] (8-dan)
Major titles won	9
Websites
JSA profile page

Momoko Katō (加藤 桃子, Katō Momoko, born October 6, 1993) is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 4-dan. She is a former holder of the Seirei [ja], Women's Ōza [ja] and Jo-Ō [ja] titles.

Katō was born in Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture on October 6, 1993.^[1] She started playing shogi when she was about five years old.^[2][3] She started taking shogi lessons and was traveling outside of Shizuoka Prefecture to play in shogi tournaments by the time she was a third-grade elementary school student, and won a national shogi championship when she was a fifth-grade elementary school student.^[4]

Katō entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank of 6-kyū as a student of shogi professional Terutaka Yasue [ja] in 2006 when she was eleven years old.^[3] She was promoted to the rank of apprentice professional 1-kyū in 2011^[4] and then apprentice professional 1-dan in May 2014, becoming just the third woman to achieve that rank after Kana Satomi and Tomoka Nishiyama.^[5]

In March 2019, Katō decided to leave the apprentice school and petitioned the JSA to become a women's professional shogi player instead. In consideration of her past success in women's professional shogi tournaments, the JSA decided to award Katō the rank of 3-dan instead of her last rank as an apprentice professional which is the common practice for women apprentice professionals ranked 2-kyū or higher.^[2][6]

In November 2021, Katō won the 3rd Seirei [ja] title (September – November 2021) by defeating the defending champion Kana Satomi 3 games to 2.^[7] Katō, however, was unable to successfully defend her Seirei title the following year, losing a rematch against Satomi 3 games to none in the 4th Seirei Title Match (July – August 2022).^[8] The pair faced each other again in major title match later in 2022 when Katō challenged Satomi for the 12th Women's Ōza title (October – December 2022). Satomi successfully defended her Women's Ōza title 3 games to 2.^[9]

Katō advanced to Women's Ōza title match against Satomi for the second year in a row, but once again was unsuccessful, losing the 13th Women's Ōza title match 3 games to 1.^[10]

In April – May 2024, Katō challenged Satomi (now playing under her married name "Fukuma") for the Women's Ōi [ja] title, but lost the 35th Women's Ōi Title Match 3 games to 0.^[11] Katō and Fukuma met again a few months later in the 6th Seirei title match (July – August 2024), but Fukuma won the match 3 games to 1.^[12]

Katō's promotion history is as follows.^[13]

• 3-dan: April 1, 2019^[2][6]
• 4-dan: July 3, 2023

Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.

Katō has appeared in women's major title matches twenty-three times and has won a total of nine titles. She has won the Women's Ōza [ja] and the Jo-Ō [ja] titles four times each, and the Seirei [ja] title once.^[14]

• ShogiHub: Professional Player Info · Kato, Momoko
• Momoko Katō on Twitter: Official Twitter account (in Japanese)
• Reiwa Shogi Schoo: Shogi school operated by Katō (in Japanese)