Japanese Kisei
The Japanese Kisei (棋聖戦) is the most prestigious tournament of the Japanese professional Go scene in terms of prize money. It was established in 1976 by Yomiuri Shimbun (読売新聞), a leading Japanese newspaper and a major sponsor to Japanese Go. The word 'Kisei' literally means 'Go Sage', a title that has traditionally been reserved for only the best players.
Being the most prestigious professional tournament, its format is also by far the most complex. A brand new system was introduced in term 40 which is describe below in great details.
- This tournament is open to all Japanese professionals. There are 32 preliminary groups (reducing to 16 from term 41) with winners filling up the 32-player league C.
- League C is not really an all-play-all league as implied by its name. It is a modified five-round Swiss tournament with players losing 3 games demoted immediately ('triple-knockout' is another way describing the format). Simple math shows that there are 73 games in total in this section. After five rounds, there are exactly one player with 5-0 score, five players with 4-1 score and ten players with 3-2 score. Sixteen players losing 3 games are demoted (so from term 41 only 16 preliminary groups are needed). Six players winning 4 games or more get promoted to league B next year. And the league C winner enters the final challenger deciding tournament directly.
- In league B, sixteen players are divided in two groups of eight (B1 and B2). Each player needs to play seven games. Top 2 of each group are promoted to league A and bottom 3 demoted to league C next year. Also winner of league B1 and league B2 need to play one extra game to decide who enters the challenger deciding tournament.
- League A is a single league with eight players. Each player needs to play seven games. Winner of league A enters the challenger deciding tournament. Top 2 are promoted to league S and bottom 4 are demoted to league B.
- League S is a single league with six strongest players. Each player needs to play five games. Top 2 finishers enter the challenger deciding tournament. Bottom 2 get demoted to league A next year.
- The challenger deciding tournament runs like a ladder. e.g. league C winner playing league B winner first, the winner in turn plays league A winner, then league S runner-up, then league S winner. The final round is a modified best-of-three match, meaning that the lower ranked player has to win 2-0 to become the challenger. The league S winner only needs one win to become the challenger.
- The challenger goes on to play previous year's titleholder in a best-of-seven match to decide the Kisei title.
- In the event that a lower-ranked player going all the way to become challenger or even win the title, his/her position in the lower league next year will be replaced by player falling out from a higher league.
Format introduced in term 25 and abolished after term 39: after a series of preliminary tournaments (preliminary C, B and A, followed by a final preliminary, all using single-elimination format with stronger players seeded directly into later stages), 4 players reach the league stage, joining the 8 top players who survived previous year's leagues. They are divided into two groups (league A and league B). The winners of the two leagues play a single game to decide the challenger, who will challenge previous year's titleholder in a best-of-seven match. The bottom two players from each league get demoted and have to start over from preliminary tournament next year.
Fujisawa Hideyuki won the first six consecutive Kisei titles. This record was later broken by Kobayashi Koichi, who won the title eight times in a row. Both players were awarded the 'Honorary Kisei' title.
Term | Year | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Game Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1977 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | 4-1 | Hashimoto Utaro |
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2 | 1978 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | 4-3 | Kato Masao |
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3 | 1979 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | 4-1 | Ishida Yoshio |
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4 | 1980 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | 4-1 | Rin Kaiho |
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5 | 1981 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | 4-0 | Otake Hideo |
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6 | 1982 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | 4-3 | Rin Kaiho |
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7 | 1983 | Cho Chikun | 4-3 | Fujisawa Hideyuki |
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8 | 1984 | Cho Chikun | 4-2 | Rin Kaiho |
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9 | 1985 | Cho Chikun | 4-3 | Takemiya Masaki |
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10 | 1986 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-2 | Cho Chikun |
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11 | 1987 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-1 | Takemiya Masaki |
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12 | 1988 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-1 | Kato Masao |
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13 | 1989 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-1 | Takemiya Masaki |
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14 | 1990 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-1 | Otake Hideo |
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15 | 1991 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-3 | Kato Masao |
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16 | 1992 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-3 | Yamashiro Hiroshi |
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17 | 1993 | Kobayashi Koichi | 4-3 | Kato Masao |
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18 | 1994 | Cho Chikun | 4-2 | Kobayashi Koichi |
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19 | 1995 | Kobayashi Satoru | 4-2 | Cho Chikun |
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20 | 1996 | Cho Chikun | 4-3 | Kobayashi Satoru |
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21 | 1997 | Cho Chikun | 4-1 | Kobayashi Satoru |
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22 | 1998 | Cho Chikun | 4-2 | Yoda Norimoto |
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23 | 1999 | Cho Chikun | 4-2 | Kobayashi Koichi |
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24 | 2000 | O Rissei | 4-2 | Cho Chikun |
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25 | 2001 | O Rissei | 4-2 | Cho Sonjin |
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26 | 2002 | O Rissei | 4-2 | Ryu Shikun |
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27 | 2003 | Yamashita Keigo | 4-1 | O Rissei |
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28 | 2004 | Hane Naoki | 4-3 | Yamashita Keigo |
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29 | 2005 | Hane Naoki | 4-3 | Yuki Satoshi |
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30 | 2006 | Yamashita Keigo | 4-0 | Hane Naoki |
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31 | 2007 | Yamashita Keigo | 4-0 | Kobayashi Satoru |
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32 | 2008 | Yamashita Keigo | 4-3 | Cho Chikun |
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33 | 2009 | Yamashita Keigo | 4-2 | Yoda Norimoto |
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34 | 2010 | Cho U | 4-1 | Yamashita Keigo |
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35 | 2011 | Cho U | 4-2 | Iyama Yuuta |
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36 | 2012 | Cho U | 4-3 | Takao Shinji |
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37 | 2013 | Iyama Yuuta | 4-2 | Cho U |
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38 | 2014 | Iyama Yuuta | 4-2 | Yamashita Keigo |
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39 | 2015 | Iyama Yuuta | 4-3 | Yamashita Keigo |
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40 | 2016 | Iyama Yuuta | 4-0 | Yamashita Keigo |
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41 | 2017 | Iyama Yuuta | 4-2 | Kono Rin |
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42 | 2018 |
