Although there is no difference in the systems used for men and women amateurs, the JSA and the Ladies Professional Shogi-players' Association of Japan, or LPSA, do use a slightly different system for ranking women professionals. Women professionals are ranked from 3-kyū to 6-dan and it is commonly believed that even the strongest women professionals are generally only equivalent in playing strength to shōreikai 1- or 2-dan ranked players. In fact, no woman professional has ever successfully completed the shōreikai system and been awarded the rank of 4-dan. Three women have made it as far as 1 dan in the shōreikai, and two have made it as far as 3 dan.