From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 23 apr 1999 Subject: Re: Championships? titles? Tom Cook UNITEDELEC COM> writes: > I know I have asked this before and it was in fact answered before, but > could someone direct me to the information about the titles, tournament and > rankings for the top Shogi players? I promise I won't lose it this time. I think I was the one who answered the questions at that time. Unfortunately you were not the only one who lost it. So it took me some time to write it up again. Here is the information for most of the important tournaments: Seven "Titles": =============== 1) Meijin --------- * Tournament system: - 5 Leagues: A, B1, B2, C1, C2 - Relegation and promotion between the leagues - Winner of the A league challenges the Meijin title holder * Match conditions: - Best of seven games - Played from early April - Time per player: 9 hours (two days) * Played since 1937 2) Ryu-O -------- * Tournament system: - 6 knock-out groups - Relegation and promotion between the groups - 4 players from group 1, 2 players from group 2, 2 players from group 3 and 1 player from each of the other groups qualify for the knock out challenger tournament - Final of the knock out tournament is a best-of-three match - Winner of this best-of-three final challenges the title holder * Match conditions: - Best of seven games - Played from half October - Time per player: 8 hours (two days) * Played since 1988, before that it was the 10-dan tournament (1962-1987) and before that the 9-dan tournament (1950-1961). 3) Kisei -------- * Tournament system: - Knock out tournaments to qualify for one of four Kisei leagues of four players - Two players from each league qualify for the challenger tournament - Challenger tournament is a knock out tournament. The winner of this tournament challenges the Kisei title holder. * Match conditions: - Best of five games - Played from half June - Time per player: 5 hours (one day) * Played since 1962 4) Oi ----- * Tournament system: - Knock out tournaments to qualify for the two Oi Leagues, the Red Group and the White Group. - The winner of the Red Group plays the winner of the White Group to decide the challenger of the Oi title holder * Match conditions: - Best of seven games - Played from early July - Time per player: 8 hours (two days) * Played since 1960 5) Kio ------ * Tournament system: - Knock out tournament with knock out qualification to decide the challenger of the Kio title holder. - Second chance round from the semi-finals. Winner of the second chance round has to beat the winner of the regular knock out tournament twice in a row to become challenger. * Match conditions: - Best of five games - Played from half February - Time per player: 4 hours (one day) * Played since 1974 6) Oza ------ * Tournament system: - Knock out tournament with knock out qualification to decide the challenger of the Oza title holder. * Match conditions: - Best of five games - Played from early September - Time per player: 5 hours (one day) * Played since 1953 7) Osho ------ * Tournament system: - Knock out qualification for the Osho league. - Winner of the Osho league challenges the Osho title holder * Match conditions: - Best of seven games - Played from early January - Time per player: 8 hours (two days) * Played since 1950 Other Professional Tournaments: =============================== 1) Zen Nihon Pro Tournament --------------------------- * Tournament system: - Knock out tournament of all professional players - Final is a best of five match * Played since 1972 2) NHK Cup ---------- * Tournament system: - Quick shogi television tournament - Knock out tournament with qualification tournaments - Fifteen minutes per player, then 30 seconds byoyomi. Players can use one minute instead of 30 seconds 10 times. * Played since 1951 (first on the radio, since 1962 on television) 3) Hayasashi Senshuken ---------------------- * Tournament system: - Quick shogi television tournament - Knock out tournament with qualification tournaments - Ten minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 seconds byoyomi. * Played since 1972 4) Hayasashi Shinei Sen ----------------------- * Tournament system: - Quick shogi television tournament - Knock out tournament with qualification tournaments - Ten minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 seconds byoyomi. - Only players younger than 30 and lower ranked than 7-dan can enter. * Played since 1982 5) Nihon Series --------------- * Tournament system: - Knock out tournament played in front of an audience all over Japan. - Only title holders and A class professionals are invited * Played since 1980 6) Shinjin-O ------------ * Tournament system: - Knock out tournament. - Final is a best-of-three match with 5 hours per player - Only players younger than 30 and lower ranked than 7-dan can enter. * Played since 1970 There are some other minor tournaments like the Ginga-sen, but I did not bother to write them all down (maybe some other time). If anyone spots mistakes, please let me know, because I might use this information on my homepage later. As for the rankings of professionals, this are (like almost all Japanese sports) based on dan level. The current dan ranking of professionals can be found at http://www.etl.go.jp/etl/suiron/~grimberg/SHOGI/pro.html Hope this helps, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Games Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp URL: http://www.etl.go.jp/etl/suiron/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918