The NHK Cup (Go), or as it is more commonly known the ,
is a professional
Go tournament (
Go competition) organized by the Japan Go Association (
Nihon Ki-in
The Nihon Ki-in (), also known as the Japan Go Association, is the main organizational body for Go in Japan, overseeing Japan's professional system and issuing diplomas for amateur dan rankings. It is based in Tokyo. The other major Go associat ...
)
and sponsored by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (
NHK
, also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee.
NHK ope ...
).
The tournament lasts roughly one year from April to the following March. Tournament games are
televised each Sunday from 12:30 to 14:00 (
JST) on NHK Educational TV (
NHK-E)
and live commentary and analysis is provided by two commentators (Go professionals): (typically a female Go professional) who serves in that role for the entire tournament and a to provide detailed analysis. Post-game analysis involving the two players and the two commentators takes place once the game has ended (broadcast time permitting). This year (2023) marks the 71st time the tournament has been held and the host is Shiho Hoshiai 2P. Prior to 1963, the tournament was broadcast on the
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
.
Tournament Format
The tournament is a
single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...
with 50 competing for the title of . A fixed number of spots in the main tournament are reserved for "seeded players" (higher ranked players, existing title holders, those with superior win loss records, etc.) while the remaining spots are decided through a series of preliminary tournaments. Once the final 50 players have been determined, they are divided into two blocks (Block A and Block B) of 25 players each.
The tournament consists of 6 rounds: the first 5 rounds determine the winner of each block、and then the two block winners meet in Round 6 for the tournament championship. The reigning title holder and