Ryu-oh or Ryūō is the name of a promoted piece in shogi

Shogi

, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...

, a Japanese professional shogi tournament, and the title of its winner.

The basic meaning of "Ryu-oh" is a "promoted rook". It can move as either a rook (hisha 飛車, lit. flying chariot") or a king (gyokushō 玉将, lit. "jade general") during a turn, and is one of the most powerful pieces in shogi.

"Ryu-oh" also refers to the annual Ryu-oh Tournament (Ryūō-sen 竜王戦) organized by Yomiuri Shimbun

Yomiuri Shimbun

The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun...

 as well as the title awarded to its winner. The Ryu-oh Tournament, which is one of seven Japanese shogi title matches, was first held in 1988. It comprises preliminary tournaments in six classes and one final. The final tournament, which determines the challenger, involves competitions among eleven players (the top five players from 1st class, top two from 2nd class, and the top four from 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes). The first player to win four out of seven championship games becomes the new titleholder.

Cash prizes are ¥32,000,000 for the winner of championship and new Ryu-oh titleholder, and ¥8,000,000 for the loser (approximately US$320,000 and $80,000 respectively). Additional compensation includes ¥14,500,000 for the previous titleholder and ¥7,000,000 for the challenger (approximately US$145,000 and $70,000).

Among the seven rankings in the professional shogi titleholder system

Titleholder system

The titleholder system is the most common type of structure used in professional tournaments in the game of go. In practice these events almost always are based in East Asian countries with a professional system: China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan...

, Ryu-oh and Meijin

Meijin (shogi)

is one of the seven titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryu-oh.The word "meijin" means "an excellent person" in a certain field...

 are the most prestigious designations.

Honorary Ryu-oh

Honorary Ryu-oh ("Eisei Ryu-oh" = Permanent Ryu-oh) is the title given to a player who won the championship five times in a row or seven times.

Akira Watanabe won the championship five times in a row from 2004 to 2008, which makes him the first honorary Ryu-oh.

Winners

Year	Winner	Score	Opponent
1988	Akira Shima	4-0	Kunio Yonenaga Kunio Yonenaga is a retired professional shogi player, and president of Japan Shogi Association.- Biography :Yonenaga became a professional in 1963, and was promoted to 9 dan in 1979....
1989	Yoshiharu Habu	4-3	Akira Shima
1990	Koji Tanigawa	4-1	Yoshiharu Habu
1991	Koji Tanigawa	4-2	Taku Morishita
1992	Yoshiharu Habu	4-3	Koji Tanigawa
1993	Yasumitsu Sato	4-2	Yoshiharu Habu
1994	Yoshiharu Habu	4-2	Yasumitsu Sato
1995	Yoshiharu Habu	4-2	Yasumitsu Sato
1996	Koji Tanigawa	4-1	Yoshiharu Habu
1997	Koji Tanigawa	4-0	Keiichi Sanada
1998	Takeshi Fujii	4-0	Koji Tanigawa
1999	Takeshi Fujii	4-1	Daisuke Suzuki
2000	Takeshi Fujii	4-3	Yoshiharu Habu
2001	Yoshiharu Habu	4-1	Takeshi Fujii
2002	Yoshiharu Habu	4-3	Takashi Abe
2003	Toshiyuki Moriuchi	4-0	Yoshiharu Habu
2004	Akira Watanabe	4-3	Toshiyuki Moriuchi
2005	Akira Watanabe	4-0	Kazuki Kimura
2006	Akira Watanabe	4-3	Yasumitsu Sato
2007	Akira Watanabe	4-2	Yasumitsu Sato
2008	Akira Watanabe	4-3	Yoshiharu Habu
2009	Akira Watanabe	4-0	Toshiyuki Moriuchi

External links

• 竜王戦：日本将棋連盟, Ryūō Tournament: Japan Shogi Association
• 第21期竜王戦中継, 21st Ryūō Tournament website