Rin Kaihō or Lin Haifeng is a professional Taiwanese Go player who made his name in Japan. He is, along with Cho Chikun, Kobayashi Koichi, Otake Hideo, Takemiya Masaki and Kato Masao, considered one of the 'Six Supers' that dominated Japanese Go world in the last three decades of the twentieth century.
Cho U is a Taiwanese professional Go player. He currently ranks 6th in the most titles won by a Japanese professional; his NEC Cup win in 2011 put him past his teacher Rin Kaiho and Norimoto Yoda. Cho is the first player in history to have held five of the top seven major titles simultaneously with Iyama Yuta being the second. Cho U, Naoki Hane, Keigo Yamashita and Shinji Takao make up the group of players in Japan called the "Four Emperors". His wife is one of Japan's best female go professionals, Izumi Kobayashi, the great Kitani's granddaughter and daughter of Kobayashi Koichi.
Koichi Kobayashi is a Japanese Go player. He's one of the 'Six Supers' that championed Japanese Go in the last three decades of Japanese Go.
The 1st Kisei was the birth of a new Go tournament. Since this was the first year of the tournament, there was no set challenger or holder. From the 2nd edition on, there has been a playoff between challengers. At the time, it was the highest paying tournament there had ever been, and would be until the creation of the Ing Cup. Fujisawa Hideyuki's win would mark the beginning of a six-year defense of the Kisei title from 1977 to 1982.
The 4th Kisei was the 4th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Fujisawa. Rin Kaiho became the challenger after beating Hashimoto Shoji 2 games to 1, but would lose 4 games to 1 against Fujisawa.
The 5th Kisei was a Go competition, the 5th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Fujisawa. Otake Hideo became the challenger after beating Cho Chikun 2 games to 1, but would lose 4 games to 0 against Fujisawa.
The 6th Kisei was the 6th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Fujisawa. Rin Kaiho became the challenger after beating Kobayashi Koichi 2 games to 0, but would lose 4 games to 3 against Fujisawa.
The 7th Kisei was the seventh edition of the Kisei Go tournament, played in 1983. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Fujisawa. Cho Chikun became the challenger after beating Kato Masao 2 games to 0, and went on to beat Fujisawa 4 games to 3 to become the new Kisei.
The 8th Kisei was the 8th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Cho Chikun won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Cho. Rin Kaiho became the challenger after beating Sonoda Yuichi 2 games to 0, but lost to Cho 4 games to 2.
The 9th Kisei was the 9th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Cho Chikun won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Cho. Takemiya Masaki became the challenger after beating Kobayashi Koichi 2 games to 1, but lost to Cho 4 games to 3.
The 10th Kisei was the 10th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Cho Chikun won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Twelve players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Cho. Koichi Kobayashi became the challenger after beating Masao Kato 2 games to 1, and went on to defeat Cho Chikun 4 games to 2.
The 11th Kisei was the 11th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Koichi Kobayashi won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eleven players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Kobayashi. Masaki Takemiya became the challenger after beating Hideo Otake 2 games to 1, but he would lose to Kobayashi 4 games to 1 in the final.
The 12th Kisei was the 12th edition of the Kisei tournament for the game of Go. Since Koichi Kobayashi won the previous year, he was given an automatic place in the final. Eleven players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final two. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Kobayashi. Masao Kato became the challenger after beating Hideo Otake 2 games to 0, but would lose to Kobayashi 4 games to 1 in the final.
The 15th Kisei 15th iteration of the Kisei tournament, a tournament in the board game go. It was won by Kobayashi Koichi, the defending champion, and held in Japan in 1991. Kobayashi won 4 games to 3 over Kato Masao in the final.
The 20th Kisei 20th iteration of the Kisei tournament, a tournament in the board game go. It was won by Cho Chikun and held in 1996. The first match was played outside Japan, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Chikun won 4 games to 3 over Kobayashi Satoru in the final.
The 31st Kisei is being held from May 2006 to March 22, 2007. The following players earned spots through not being eliminated in the group stage: Satoshi Yuki (5-0), Tomoyasu Mimura (3-2), Kato Atsushi (3-2), Kobayashi Satoru (3-2), Komatsu Hideki (3-2), Norimoto Yoda (2-3), and O Rissei (2-3). Cho U, Kunihisa Honda, O Meien, and Toshiya Imamura were eliminated from group play and had to earn a spot through preliminary stages. The players to have qualified through preliminary tournaments are Cho U, Kunihisa Honda, Cho Chikun, and Toshiya Imamura. Naoki Hane, the loser of the 30th Kisei takes the place of holder Keigo Yamashita in the group stage. Players who end with the two lowest records in the each league are eliminated from automatic berth into the next tournament while the 3 other players who were not eliminated or had the top record are given a place in the following years groups.
The 30th Kisei was held from May 2005 to February 22, 2006. The players to have qualified through preliminary tournaments are Toshiya Imamura, Atsushi Kato, Hideki Komatsu, and Kunihisa Honda. The players to have returned from the previous year are Satoshi Yuki, Norimoto Yoda, Cho U, Tomoyasu Mimura, Keigo Yamashita, O Rissei, O Meien, and Kobayashi Satoru. Players who end with the two lowest records in the each league are eliminated from automatic berth into the next tournament.
The 1st Igo Masters Cup began on 24 February 2011 and is still ongoing. Eleven players participated: Kobayashi Koichi, Kudo Norio, Rin Kaiho, Kataoka Satoshi, Hane Yasumasa, Ishida Yoshio, Takemiya Masaki, Cho Chikun, O Rissei, Kobayashi Satoru, Otake Hideo.
