Kisei (Go)

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[]

Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. The competition began in 1976 by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and is currently the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go, paying ¥45,000,000 (approx. $557,000 as of 29 June 2011) to the winner in 2011.^[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[]

Honorary winners[]

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 himself to become "Honorary Kisei" after retiring or after the age of 60.

• Fujisawa Hideyuki 1977–1982
• Kobayashi Koichi 1986–1993
• Iyama Yuta 2013-

References[]

External links[]

• Official Kisei page of Yomiuri Shinbun (in Japanese)
• Kisei title games