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.

Kisei (Go)
Full nameKisei
Started1976
Honorary WinnersFujisawa Hideyuki
Kobayashi Koichi
Iyama Yuta
SponsorsYomiuri Shimbun
Prize money¥43 million
AffiliationNihon Ki-in

Background

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Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. The competition began in 1976 by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and is the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go, paying ¥43,000,000 to the winner since the 47th Kisei in 2023.[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

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No. Year Winner Score Runner-up
1 1977 Fujisawa Hideyuki 4–1 Hashimoto Utaro
2 1978 4–3 Kato Masao
3 1979 4–1 Ishida Yoshio
4 1980 4–1 Rin Kaiho
5 1981 4–0 Otake Hideo
6 1982 4–3 Rin Kaiho
7 1983 Cho Chikun 4–3 Fujisawa Hideyuki
8 1984 4–2 Rin Kaiho
9 1985 4–3 Takemiya Masaki
10 1986 Kobayashi Koichi 4–2 Cho Chikun
11 1987 4–1 Takemiya Masaki
12 1988 4–1 Kato Masao
13 1989 4–1 Takemiya Masaki
14 1990 4–1 Otake Hideo
15 1991 4–3 Kato Masao
16 1992 4–3 Yamashiro Hiroshi
17 1993 4–3 Kato Masao
18 1994 Cho Chikun 4–2 Kobayashi Koichi
19 1995 Kobayashi Satoru 4–2 Cho Chikun
20 1996 Cho Chikun 4–3 Kobayashi Satoru
21 1997 4–1
22 1998 4–2 Yoda Norimoto
23 1999 4–2 Kobayashi Koichi
24 2000 O Rissei 4–2 Cho Chikun
25 2001 4–2 Cho Sonjin
26 2002 4–2 Ryu Shikun
27 2003 Yamashita Keigo 4–1 O Rissei
28 2004 Hane Naoki 4–3 Yamashita Keigo
29 2005 4–3 Yuki Satoshi
30 2006 Yamashita Keigo 4–0 Hane Naoki
31 2007 4–0 Kobayashi Satoru
32 2008 4–3 Cho Chikun
33 2009 4–2 Yoda Norimoto
34 2010 Cho U 4–1 Yamashita Keigo
35 2011 4–2 Iyama Yuta
36 2012 4–3 Takao Shinji
37 2013 Iyama Yuta 4–2 Cho U
38 2014 4–2 Yamashita Keigo
39 2015 4–3
40 2016 4–0
41 2017 4–2 Kono Rin
42 2018 4–0 Ichiriki Ryo
43 2019 4–3 Yamashita Keigo
44 2020 4–2 Kono Rin
45 2021 4–1
46 2022 Ichiriki Ryo 4–3 Iyama Yuta
47 2023 4–2 Shibano Toramaru
48 2023 4–3 Iyama Yuta

Honorary winners

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

References

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  1. ^ "第47期 棋聖戦". Nihon Ki-in (in Japanese).
  2. ^ a b "Go Tournament: Kisei". gogameworld.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Abolition of the rating tournament". nihonkiin.or.jp/english. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
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