Titleholder system
Encyclopedia
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
. The system originated from competitions sponsored by Japanese newspapers, and has the effect that major go events are spread out over a whole year of preliminaries, with a matchplay final that takes place over a month or two. While this makes tournaments slow-moving and diffuse by the standards of some other mind sports, rather than happening in a single place over a short time span, the system is well entrenched. The sponsoring newspapers can fill a daily column easily throughout the year, while the players can juggle commitments to a number of tournaments and outside interests by asking for scheduling that fits in everything.
Each of the major events, for example the Kisei tournament in Japan, has a complicated set of qualifying rounds to select a challenger. The qualifying system is a long series of single-elimination tournament
s feeding into two separate round-robin
(league) systems. The single elimination tournaments involve lower-ranked pros, who are met with higher-ranked pros in later stages. The winners of the two round-robins play off to produce a single challenger, who then goes on to play the titleholder. For example for the Kisei, this is the previous year's Kisei winner, who will not have participated in the event up to this point. The Kisei match is a best-of-seven. Each game is scheduled in a different city; the Kisei first game is often played outside Japan, for example in Europe or North America, to attract attention. The match then settles into a schedule of a game every two weeks or one week (in the case of the Kisei the games take two days to finish, and the players need time to recuperate properly).
The winner of the title match then enters the record books, and returns to defend the title the following year (cases where the title is for some reason not defended have been very rare). The most common measure of a top player's success, in Japan at least, is the total number of titles accumulated, with a handful of players winning more than 60.
. Before that was introduced in the early 1940s, other systems used were the win-and-continue system
, which has the advantage of low organisational overheads, and high-profile jubango
. There has been no jubango since 1960, but win-and-continue systems are used in South Korea. Teams matches were also popular in the 1920s.
The introduction of international go events led to the adoption of new systems for those, mostly based on knockout rounds, and international titles are typically not awarded under the titleholder system. That is, the holder has to compete in the event's earlier stages, a system akin to the way tennis tournaments do it, with the champion perhaps avoiding preliminaries and being seeded into the final stages.
Structure
Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...
used in professional tournaments in the game of go
Go (board game)
Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...
. In practice these events almost always are based in East Asian countries with a professional system: China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. The system originated from competitions sponsored by Japanese newspapers, and has the effect that major go events are spread out over a whole year of preliminaries, with a matchplay final that takes place over a month or two. While this makes tournaments slow-moving and diffuse by the standards of some other mind sports, rather than happening in a single place over a short time span, the system is well entrenched. The sponsoring newspapers can fill a daily column easily throughout the year, while the players can juggle commitments to a number of tournaments and outside interests by asking for scheduling that fits in everything.
Each of the major events, for example the Kisei tournament in Japan, has a complicated set of qualifying rounds to select a challenger. The qualifying system is a long series of single-elimination tournament
Single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
s feeding into two separate round-robin
Round-robin
The term round-robin was originally used to describe a document signed by multiple parties in a circle to make it more difficult to determine the order in which it was signed, thus preventing a ringleader from being identified...
(league) systems. The single elimination tournaments involve lower-ranked pros, who are met with higher-ranked pros in later stages. The winners of the two round-robins play off to produce a single challenger, who then goes on to play the titleholder. For example for the Kisei, this is the previous year's Kisei winner, who will not have participated in the event up to this point. The Kisei match is a best-of-seven. Each game is scheduled in a different city; the Kisei first game is often played outside Japan, for example in Europe or North America, to attract attention. The match then settles into a schedule of a game every two weeks or one week (in the case of the Kisei the games take two days to finish, and the players need time to recuperate properly).
The winner of the title match then enters the record books, and returns to defend the title the following year (cases where the title is for some reason not defended have been very rare). The most common measure of a top player's success, in Japan at least, is the total number of titles accumulated, with a handful of players winning more than 60.
Other systems
The first titleholder system of the modern pattern was the Honinbo tournamentHoninbo Tournament
The Honinbo is a Go competition.-Outline:It is the oldest Go title in Japan. Sponsored by Mainichi Shimbun, the Honinbo pays out ¥32 million . 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...
. Before that was introduced in the early 1940s, other systems used were the win-and-continue system
Single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
, which has the advantage of low organisational overheads, and high-profile jubango
Jubango
Jubango is a Japanese term for a Go match consisting of ten games which might be ended earlier if agreed by the players. A decisive victory would result in the opponent being beaten down to a lower rank. A player would be beaten down if he fell behind his opponent by four wins in the net score...
. There has been no jubango since 1960, but win-and-continue systems are used in South Korea. Teams matches were also popular in the 1920s.
The introduction of international go events led to the adoption of new systems for those, mostly based on knockout rounds, and international titles are typically not awarded under the titleholder system. That is, the holder has to compete in the event's earlier stages, a system akin to the way tennis tournaments do it, with the champion perhaps avoiding preliminaries and being seeded into the final stages.