Tournament Entry Requirements

[hyperpape]

Today, I just saw that the Gosei is only open to players 5-dan and up, if they're in the Nihon Ki-in. Oddly, Kansai Ki-in players can enter regardless of rank. Two questions:

1. Are there other tournaments like this? I'm not thinking of tournaments that have very special entrance criteria, but ones that are only open to specific ranks.

2. I couldn't find out why the Kansai Ki-in had different rules from the Nihon Ki-in. Is this a case where the sponsors don't impose the rules, but the professional associations do?

[Horibe]

Today, I just saw that the Gosei is only open to players 5-dan and up, if they're in the Nihon Ki-in. Oddly, Kansai Ki-in players can enter regardless of rank. Two questions:

1. Are there other tournaments like this? I'm not thinking of tournaments that have very special entrance criteria, but ones that are only open to specific ranks.

2. I couldn't find out why the Kansai Ki-in had different rules from the Nihon Ki-in. Is this a case where the sponsors don't impose the rules, but the professional associations do?

On a quick check, at least as of the last Go Almanac, all of the other top 7 titles are open to all Japanese pros, regardless of rank or affiliation. Thanks for the post, the Almanac agrees with you, and I did not know the Gosei was so limited.

[GrB]

1. Are there other tournaments like this? I'm not thinking of tournaments that have very special entrance criteria, but ones that are only open to specific ranks.

There were (and probably still are) quite some tournaments open only for certain lower ranks, for example only for 6 dan or lower - mostly some variation of "New Stars" tournament for younger players.

From the top of my head, I can recall Shinjin-O title in Japan (I think it has some age restrictions too), King of New Stars in Korea (and China?)... There were more, but not all were long-lived.

[hyperpape]

Yes, that's what I was thinking of with "very specific" entrance requirements--the Kansai Ki-in championship, Okan and Shinjin O are all specialized tournaments. It's more surprising with the Gosei because it seems like it ought to be wide open to all Japanese professionals.

[Biondy]

there are some.

Okan cup is open only for Nihon kiin Nagoya branch. Kansai Kiin First Place is open only for Kansai Kiin player.