Reo Koyama

is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 4-dan. He is the third person since the end of World War II to be awarded professional status by the Japan Shogi Association (JSA) for passing the Professional Admission Test and the first to do so who was not a former member of the JSA's apprentice school. Koyama is also the first person from Iwate Prefecture to be awarded professional shogi player status.

Early life, education and amateur shogi Koyama was born in Kamaishi, Iwate, on July 2, 1993. He learned how to play shogi when he was a second-grade elementary school student. As a junior high school student, he finished third in the 27th in 2006 and third in the 33rd in 2008. In 2008, while still a third-grade junior high school student, he took the admission test for the 's apprentice school but did not pass. and he won the 69th the following year (2015) as a fourth-grade university student.

On June 17, 2016, the JSA posted on its official website that it had accepted Koyama's application to take its apprentice school stating that Koyama satisfied the criteria for taking the test by winning the the previous year, and also by being sponsored for the test by shogi professional Tadao Kitajima. The JSA stated that Koyama would be allowed to participate in apprentice professional school games starting in August 2016 as an apprentice professional 2-dan, and his test would consist of eight games against other apprentice professionals; Koyama would need to win six games to pass the test in order to participate in the 60th 3-dan League season scheduled to begin in October 2016. Even though he failed in his attempt to enter the apprentice professional 3-dan League, Koyama still continued to perform at a high level in national amateur shogi tournaments, including winning the 33rd in December 2016 while still at university, and the 5th in November 2017.

Koyama graduated from Iwate Prefectural University's Faculty of Software and Informational Science in March 2017. After graduation, he began working as a systems engineer for Ricoh, a company known for having a strong shogi team, in April 2018. While working for Ricoh, Koyama continued to perform in national amateur shogi tournaments both as an individual and as a member of Ricoh's shogi team in 2018 and 2019, After quitting his job, Koyama earned money as a part-time shogi teacher and also lived off his unemployment insurance and personal savings; he also continued to perform well in amateur shogi tournaments, winning the 50th in April 2021 and the 35th in June 2022. Finishing first or second in major national amateur tournaments allowed Koyama to qualify for certain professional shogi tournaments for which several spots were reserved for top amateur players over the years. From July 2010 (when he was 17 years old) until November 2022 (when he was 29 years old), Koyama qualified to participate in professional shogi tournaments 15 times and achieved a record of 16 wins against 15 losses.

Professional Admission Test On September 30, 2022, the JSA posted on its official website that it had received an application from Koyama on September 28 asking to be allowed to take the Professional Admission Test. The JSA approved Koyama's application stating that he satisfied the qualifications of the test after winning his September 13 game in the tournament. and then defeated in Game 2 in 111 moves at the JSA headquarters in Tokyo on December 12 to win the first two games of the test. He lost Game 3 to in 165 moves on January 20, 2023 at the Kansai Branch Office for his first loss of the test, which meant he needed to win one of his next two games to pass. Game 4 against was played on February 13 at the Kansai Branch Office. Koyama won the game in 133 moves for his third win in four games and passed the test. Koyama became the first person who was not a former member of the JSA's apprentice school to be awarded regular professional status, and the third person to obtain such status via the Professional Admission Test since the test was established. The JSA announced after the game that Koyama would officially be awarded regular professional status and the rank of 4-dan on April 1, 2023.

Shogi professional Koyama became the twelfth professional overall since the end of World War II and the first who never attended the 's apprentice professional school to meet the qualifications for moving out of Free Class play and into Class C2 of Meijin Ranking Tournament play when he defeated Kōji Tanigawa in Round 2 of the 74th NHK TV Shogi Tournament in July 2024.

Promotion history The promotion history for Koyama is as follows.

4-dan: April 1, 2023

Awards and honours Koyama received the Tokyo Shogi Reporters' Association award for 2023.