Kisei

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Kisei
Name Kisei
Started 1976
Honorary Kiseis , Kobayashi Koichi
Sponsors Yomiuri Shimbun
Prize Money 42 million Yen ($385,000 USD)
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.

[edit] Biography

Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon-Kiin. The competition began in 1976 by the Yomiuri newspaper and is currently the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go. 42,000,000 Yen ($385,000) 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 8 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.

[edit] Past Winners

Year
Winner
Details
1977 Hideyuki Fujisawa Details
1978 Hideyuki Fujisawa Details
1979 Hideyuki Fujisawa Details
1980 Hideyuki Fujisawa Details
1981 Hideyuki Fujisawa Details
1982 Hideyuki Fujisawa Details
1983 Cho Chikun Details
1984 Cho Chikun Details
1985 Cho Chikun Details
1986 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1987 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1988 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1989 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1990 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1991 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1992 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1993 Koichi Kobayashi Details
1994 Cho Chikun Details
1995 Satoru Kobayashi Details
1996 Cho Chikun Details
1997 Cho Chikun Details
1998 Cho Chikun Details
1999 Cho Chikun Details
2000 O Rissei Details
2001 O Rissei Details
2002 O Rissei Details
2003 Keigo Yamashita Details
2004 Naoki Hane Details
2005 Naoki Hane Details
2006 Keigo Yamashita Details
2007 Keigo Yamashita Details

[edit] See also

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