Judan (Go)

Judan (Go)
Full name	Judan
Started	1962
Sponsors	Sankei Shimbun
Prize money	¥12 million $118,395.74 £69,294.01 (as of July 2014)
Affiliation	Nihon Ki-in

The Judan (十段)—which can be translated as "10 dan"—is a Go competition in Japan. It is one of the seven major professional titles.

The Judan is a Go competition used by the Japanese Nihon-Kiin and Kansai-Kiin. It was started by the Sankei Shimbun newspaper in 1962. The format is similar to the other big titles in Japan. There is a tournament that decides the challenger. Although, there is something different about the preliminary tournament. Instead of single knockout, it is a double knockout tournament. There is a losers' section where if a player loses in the preliminary, they go to the losers' section. The winner of the losers' section plays the winner of the winners' section which ultimately decides the challenger for the title. The challenger then plays against the holder in a best of 5 match.

In the Judan competition, if a player wins the challenger section, they are promoted to 7 dan. Winning the title gives the player a promotion to 8 dan. If that player defends the title the next year, they are promoted to 9 dan.

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