Kisei

Go tournament
tournamentname=Kisei
fullname=Kisei
started=1976
honorarywinners=Hideyuki Fujisawa
Koichi Kobayashi
sponsors=Yomiuri Shimbun
prizemoney=42 million Yen (US$355,000)
affiliation=Nihon Ki-in

The "Kisei" (棋聖) is a 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 recognised "kisei" in the "shogi" world.

Background

Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon-Kiin. The competition began in 1976 by the "Yomiuri Shimbun" newspaper and is currently the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go. ¥42,000,000 (approximately $355,000 as of 29 May 2007) is the payoff for the winner. The only competition to give more money to the winner is the Ing Cup, which is an international competition held once every four years. The word Kisei is Japanese for "Go Saint", which is why before the Kisei tournament began, the only players who were given the title "Kisei" were Dosaku and Honinbo Shusaku.

The tournament is just like the other two biggest Go titles in Japan, the Meijin and Honinbo. 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. There are also more rewards than just money from the Kisei tournament. Again, like the other biggest titles in Japan, if a player qualifies for the Kisei league, they are automatically moved up 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 finally promoted to 9 dan, the highest rank.

Past winners

ee also

*Honorary Kisei