Kisei (Go)
| Kisei (Go) | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Kisei |
| Started | 1976 |
| Honorary Winners | Fujisawa Hideyuki Kobayashi Koichi Iyama Yuta |
| Sponsors | Yomiuri Shimbun |
| Prize money | ¥43 million |
| Affiliation | Nihon Ki-in |
Kisei (棋聖) is an honorary title and Go competition. The title, meaning Go Sage in Japanese, was a traditional honorary appellation given to a handful of players down the centuries. The element ki can also apply to shogi, and there were also recognized kisei in the shogi world.
Background
[edit]Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. The competition began in 1976 by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and is the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go, paying ¥43,000,000 to the winner since the 47th Kisei in 2023.[1] The word Kisei is Japanese for "Go Sage", which is why before the Kisei tournament began, the only players who were given the title "Kisei" were Dōsaku and Hon′inbō Shūsaku.[2]
The holder is challenged by whoever wins the round robin league. Players can get into the round robin league by going through many preliminary tournaments. Once there is a challenger to compete against the holder, the winner is decided through a best of seven match. The games are played over two days and each player is given eight hours of thinking time.[2] If a player qualifies for the Kisei league, they are automatically promoted to 7 dan. If that same player wins the league, a promotion to 8 dan is given. If that same player goes on to winning the title, they are promoted to 9 dan, the highest rank.[3]
Past winners
[edit]Honorary winners
[edit]A Go player who has held the title for five consecutive years, or won the title a total of ten times or more, has qualified themselves to become "Honorary Kisei" after retiring or after the age of 60.
- Fujisawa Hideyuki 1977–1982
- Kobayashi Koichi 1986–1993
- Iyama Yuta 2013–2021
References
[edit]- ^ "第47期 棋聖戦". Nihon Ki-in (in Japanese).
- ^ a b "Go Tournament: Kisei". gogameworld.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ "Abolition of the rating tournament". nihonkiin.or.jp/english. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
External links
[edit]- Official Kisei page of Yomiuri Shinbun (in Japanese)
- Kisei title games