From: Patrick Davin LYRA VEGA OR JP> Date: 11 dec 1999 Subject: Re: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 818, December 8th 1999) Re: pecking-order of pro shogi tournaments There are 150+ active (male) shogi pros. They have no official games versus amateurs except very occasionally in the few events where one to three top amateurs may be invited to play in qualifying rounds. Pros do not participate in open tournaments, vast or otherwise. The factors that determine a pro tournament's status are: a) Title vs non-title. A title cycle has a tournament the purpose of which is to produce a challenger, who plays a five or seven game match against the title holder. Non-title events start fresh every year. The seven title cycles hold a higher status than non-title events. b) Prize fund. The Ryuo has the highest prize fund of all shogi events. The rest of the titles in (rough) order are Meijin, Kisei, Oi, Kio, Oza, and Osho. (Not all prize funds are publicized.) The All-Japan Pro Championship has the highest prize fund of a non-title event, higher perhaps than the lower title events. Other miscellaneous factors: publicity (some events are televised), playing conditions, time control, etc. The all-play-all format, as Larry pointed out, is not looked upon as inferior. However, the absence of draws in shogi makes the knockout format ideal for selecting a clear winner. Re: the JT Cup Series. The sponsor's (Japan Tobacco) intent is to draw maximum publicity by getting the 12 strongest and most popular players in shogi. The participants are: - The previous JT Cup winner, - Holders of the 7 major titles, and - the top of the A class, up to a total of 12 players. The format is, like most shogi events, single-game knockout. This means a total of 11 games are played. What is unique is that each game is played in a different city in an auditorium in front of a large audience. The time control is very fast and there is a lot of associated publicity. So, while it is a real tournament, it also has somewhat the flavor of a touring exhibition. -- Jonathan Tisdall: >>I was struck and amused by the disdain for an invitational tournament which >>grudgingly earned a bit of respect since it had the 12 strongest pros. In >>chess circles, such an event would get the world's absolute attention. >> >>It would be interesting for me to know a bit about the background of this - >>if a shogi tournament isn't a vast open, it isn't respectable? Is the JT a >>round robin? Are there any strong regular all-play-alls, or is this looked >>upon the way chess has traditionally looked at knockouts? >> >>I love a good culture clash. Larry Kaufman: > The upper divisions of the Meijin League, including in particular the >very strong A class, are round-robins (all-play-all), so there is no >feeling that this format is inferior. I'm guessing that the issue in the >above article is not the RR format, but the fact that the players did not >earn their places by qualification tournaments but were arbitrarily selected.