Honinbo Tournament
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| Honinbo | |
| Name | Honinbo |
| Started | 1941 |
| Honorary Honinbo's | Takagawa Kaku, Sakata Eio, Ishida Yoshio, Cho Chikun |
| Sponsors | Mainichi Shimbun |
| Prize Money | 32 million Yen ($280,000 USD) |
| Affiliation | Nihon Ki-in |
The Honinbo is a Go competition.
[edit] Outline
The Honinbo is the oldest Go title in the world, currently on its 61st edition. The sponsor is Mainichi Shimbun. The winner's purse is 32,000,000 Yen ($280,000).
The tournament is similar to the other two biggest Go titles in Japan, the Kisei and Meijin. The holder is challegened 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 8 hours of thinking time. There are also more rewards than just money from the Honinbo tournament. Again, alike 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.
[edit] Past winners
| Player | Years Held |
|---|---|
| Sekiyama Riichi | 1941 |
| Hashimoto Utaro | 1943, 1950, 1951 |
| Iwamoto Kaoru | 1945, 1947 |
| Takagawa Kaku | 1952 - 1960 |
| Sakata Eio | 1961 - 1967 |
| Rin Kaiho | 1968 - 1970, 1983, 1984 |
| Ishida Yoshio | 1971 - 1975 |
| Takemiya Masaki | 1976, 1980, 1985 - 1988 |
| Kato Masao | 1977 - 1979, 2002 |
| Cho Chikun | 1981, 1982, 1989 - 1998 |
| Cho Sonjin | 1999 |
| O Meien | 2000, 2001 |
| Cho U | 2003, 2004 |
| Takao Shinji | 2005 |
