Wakamu Deguchi (出口 若武, Deguchi Wakamu, born April 28, 1995) is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 6-dan.
Early life and apprentice professional
Deguchi was born on April 27, 1987, in Akashi, Hyōgo.[1] He learned how to play shogi while a lower-grade elementary school student from a fellow student.[2][3] Although he was more interested in soccer at the time, he got asked to play in some local shogi tournaments and did well.[3] He began getting more serious about shogi and started receiving instruction at the Kakogawa Shogi Center in nearby Kakogawa to improve his play.[3] He was accepted into the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school under the guidance of shogi professional Keita Inoue at the rank of 6-kyū in 2007 when he was a sixth-grade elementary school student.[2][3] He was promoted to the rank of apprentice professional 3-dan in 2013, and obtained full professional status and the corresponding rank of 4-dan in April 2019 after winning the 64th 3-dan League (October 2018 – March 2019) with a record of 14 wins and 4 losses.[2][3][4][5][6]
Shogi professional
In October 2018, Deguchi, still only an apprentice professional 3-dan, advanced to the finals of the 49th Shinjin-Ō [ja] tournament, but lost to shogi professional Sōta Fujii 2 games to none. Deguchi defeated shogi professionals Shingo Sawada (in the second round) and Hirotaka Kajiura (in the semi-finals) to become just the fifth apprentice professional to advance to the finals of the tournament.[3][4][7][8]
Deguchi has appeared in a major title match once.[10] He was the challenger to Sōta Fujii in the 7th Eiō title match (April 2022 – May 2022) but lost the match 3 games to 0.[11]