40th Kisei title

Up Setup 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

# 40th Kisei title

Starting this year, the structure of the Kisei tournament has become much more complicated. There is a 32-player C League, two 8-player B Leagues, an 8-player A League, a 6-player S League, and a decision tournament (a ladder) between the winners of these leagues, to determine the challenger in the Kisei Title match.

The S, A, B1 and B2 Leagues are real leagues where each participant plays all others. The C League has fewer games. The final stage of the ladder may consist of two games.

## League

### S League

Results (in the first column the white player, on the top row the black player)

# | player | result | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
1. | Yamashita Keigo | 4-1 |  | W+R |  | W+2.5 |  | W+R
2. | Murakawa Daisuke | 3-2 |  |  | W+4.5 |  | W+R |
3. | Takao Shinji | 2-3 | B+2.5 |  |  | B+0.5 |  | W+R
4. | Yoda Norimoto | 3-2 |  | W+R |  |  | B+0.5 |
5. | Yamashiro Hiroshi | 2-3 | W+1.5 |  | B+R |  |  | B+R
6. | Kobayashi Satoru | 1-4 |  | B+R |  | B+R |  |

Kobayashi Satoru and Yamashiro Hiroshi are demoted.

### A League

# | player | result | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
1. | Kono Rin | 7-0 |  |  | W+5.5 |  | W+R |  | W+R |
2. | Yuki Satoshi | 2-5 | B+R |  |  | B+R |  | B+R |  | W+R
3. | Hane Naoki | 2-5 |  | B+R |  |  | B+R |  | B+R |
4. | Cho Chikun | 3-4 | B+8.5 |  | B+R |  |  | B+R |  | W+R
5. | Ichiriki Ryo | 5-2 |  | W+R |  | B+2.5 |  |  | W+R |
6. | Cho Riyu | 4-3 | B+3.5 |  | W+R |  | B+R |  |  | B+R
7. | Cho U | 4-3 |  | W+R |  | W+1.5 |  | B+R |  |
8. | Mizokami Tomochika | 1-6 | B+R |  | B+R |  | B+R |  | B+0.5 |

Kono Rin and Ichiriki Ryo are promoted. Mizokami Tomochika, Hane Naoki, Yuki Satoshi, and Cho Chikun are demoted.

## Ladder

The title challenger is the winner of a ladder with 5 stages:

L1: | Winner B1 vs winner B2
L2: | Winner L1 vs winner C
L3: | Winner L2 vs winner A
L4: | Winner L3 vs runner-up S
L5: | Winner L4 vs winner S

The last stage of the ladder is a best-of-three playoff where the winner of the S League gets a 1-game advantage. Thus, in order to win this stage, a single win suffices for the winner of the S League, while the winner of stage L4 needs two wins.

stage | date | black | white | result | #mv | sgf
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
L1 | 2015-09-17 | Awaji Shuzo | Yamada Kimio | W+8.5 | 210 | sgf
L2 | 2015-10-01 | Yamada Kimio | Kyo Kagen | B+R | 187 | sgf
L3 | 2015-10-15 | Yamada Kimio | Kono Rin | B+R | 195 | sgf
L4 | 2015-10-29 | Murakawa Daisuke | Yamada Kimio | B+2.5 | 249 | sgf
L5 | 2015-11-09 | Murakawa Daisuke | Yamashita Keigo | W+R | 176 | sgf

## 40th Kisei Title

date | black | white | result | #mv | sgf
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
2016-01-14,15 | Yamashita Keigo | Iyama Yuta | W+R | 202 | sgf
2016-01-28,29 | Iyama Yuta | Yamashita Keigo | B+2.5 | 273 | sgf
2016-02-01,02 | Yamashita Keigo | Iyama Yuta | W+R | 200 | sgf
2016-02-17,18 | Iyama Yuta | Yamashita Keigo | B+R | 189 | sgf

Iyama Yuta won with 4-0.