Nihon Ki-in new promotion system
Details of the new promotion system (replacing the Oteai) have now appeared in Go World issue 97. (See previous discussion on the Oteai and professional promotion tournaments pages; there is some continuing transitional arrangement with the Oteai.)
Promotion to 9 dan
- Win Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo or an international title
- Win Judan, Tengen, Oza or Gosei, twice
- Win 200 games as an 8 dan
Promotion to 8 dan
- Win Judan, Tengen, Oza or Gosei
- Challenge for Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, or take second place in an international title
- Win 150 games as a 7 dan
Promotion to 7 dan
- Challenge for Judan, Tengen, Oza or Gosei
- Win Agon Kiriyama Cup or Ryusei
- Enter Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo leagues
- Win 120 games as a 6 dan
- Win most prize money amongst 6 dans
Promotion to 6 dan
- Win 90 games as a 5 dan
- Win most or second most prize money amongst 5 dans
Promotion to 5 dan
- Win 70 games as a 4 dan
- Win most or second most prize money amongst 4 dans
Promotion to 4 dan
- Win 50 games as a 3 dan
- Win most or second most prize money amongst 3 dans
Promotion to 3 dan
- Win 40 games as a 2 dan
- Win most or second most prize money amongst 2 dans
Promotion to 2 dan
- Win 30 games as a 1 dan
- Win most or second most prize money amongst 1 dans
Anonymous: How many games does a pro typically play in a year? And does Win 30 games as a 1 dan refer to all games played, or only those against other 1 dans
blubb: ... and is the winning quota entirely irrelevant, that is, does a 1p who has lost 270 games get promoted by the 30th win, no matter what?
Harleqin: As far as I understand, yes. You have to take into account that most tournaments are some kind of knockout, at least in the preliminary stages. This means that weaker players will also get less games to play, so it will take large amounts of time to get the required number of wins. When you have accumulated 300 games as 1p, it will have taken many, many years, so a promotion based on other merits will not seem out of place.
ChoUsRival: If you were to look at yamada kimio's record you will see he was the first to obtain a 9d by 200 wins as 8d since the new system was started. And yes it might be nice to just point out the dates of his promotion to 8d and the date of his promotion to 9d on how long that could take even with a decent winning average ^^;.