LeagueTournamentFormat

The League Tournament Format is used by three major Japanese titles, that is the Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, and Korean GS Caltex Cup.

A league consists of a number of players which paired by according to the round robin pairing system. The player with the most wins, wins the league, thereby earning the right to challenge the title holder for the title.

Often, the league players are selected based upon two criteria: the top result holders of last years league for the title and the winners of a set of single knockout tournaments. (Example: The Honinbo League consists of eight players: four are the top results holders of last year's Honinbo League; four are the winners of four distinct single knockout tournaments each open to one quarter of all professionals recognized by a Japanese certifying organization (Nihon Kiin, Kansai Kiin, etc)).