Ikkai is currently top of the international GIPF rating list, which is otherwise dominated by Belgian players, and he was the favourite to win. However, in the all-play-all section of the tournament he lost to Masayuki Kishimoto and so ended up in a three-way tie. The other two players involved were Kishimoto and Daibi Hayashi, who was the winner of the first GIPF tournament held in Japan back in July. Ikkai then won two play-off games to clinch first place.

Ikkai runs a games club in Osaka, and his first GIPF triumph was when he won the GIPF GenCon Championship in Antwerp in August. He was also the gold medal winner in the GIPF problem-solving competition at MSO3.