Children's Kisei

The Children's Kisei (こども棋聖戦) is a Japanese children's amateur tournament began in 2011. It is an open (that is, mixed gender) event.

The tournament has two sections; the Lower Elementary School Section (低学年, 1st - 3rd grade) and the Upper Elementary School Section (高学年, 4th - 6th grade). Note that inseis, often the best talented children of the generation, are not allowed to participate.

(Note on age bracket: British readers should note that the American 6th grade is the same age bracket as the traditional British 1st Year and Year 7 under the new numbering, that is to say age 11-12. The age bands of the other grades can be deduced by counting down.)

In the 11th (2021) edition, a girl reached the final of the Lower Elementary School tournament for the first time, the 3rd grader Nonaka Yuki of Saitama. For more information about Yuki, see this L19 post by Fairbairn, and his corrected version of events at the bottom of this article.

Winners

The winners of both divisions are listed on the Japanese Wikipedia page, currently up to 2018.

The winner of the lower division is always from the third grade.

So far, three winners have become professionals.

See also

Children's Meijin

bugcat: @JohnF On L19, you said that the 2021 edition was won by Nakano Yuki of Saitama (and I'm sure you're correct). But the Japanese Wikipedia gives "遠藤壮一郎（小3・東京）", which looks to me like "Endo ???, 3rd g., Tokyo".

JohnF. That was my mistake, occasioned by the fact that all the fuss was made about little Nonaka (e.g. only she got her photograph published, holding a gold cup with Iyama. But a check shows that that was just for reaching the final. and the game record (in GoGoD) indeed shows Endo Soichiro was the winner. Winners don't always get to write the histories!