Meijin League

The Meijin League is a league of nine players to decide the challenger for the title. All but the lowest-finishing three players remain in the league for the next year. Players who lose their place are replaced through a series of knock-out preliminaries.

However, the first Meijin League, completed in 1962, consisted of thirteen players to decide the holder of the Meijin title in Japan. It was won by Fujisawa Hideyuki with a score of 9-3, on an unlikely tiebreak. The game records are available online (with password) or free.