NHK Cup (Go)

The NHK Cup (Go), or as it is more commonly known the NHK Cup TV Go Tournament (NHK杯テレビ囲碁トーナメント^?), is a professional Go tournament (Go competition) organized by the Japan Go Association (Nihon Ki-in) and sponsored by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). 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): A host (司会^?) (typically a female Go professional) who serves in that role for the entire tournament and a guest commentator (大盤解説者^?) 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 (2016) marks the 64th time the tournament has been held. Prior to 1963, the tournament was broadcast on the radio.

The tournament is a single-elimination tournament with 50 Japanese Go Association professionals (棋士^?) competing for the title of NHK Cup Champion (NHK杯選手権者^?). 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.

...
Wikipedia