Chapter 9 Section 9 Ancient Go Hierarchy

In order to encourage chess players to improve their chess skills, Go players are now awarded the title of Chess Master, which is awarded to the highest level of contemporary Go players. There is also a Go rank system, which evaluates the technical level of Go players through competitions.China, Japan, and North Korea all implement such a Go hierarchy now.But considering its origin, contemporary China or Japan and other countries, in terms of Go level titles, all inherit and refer to the ancient Chinese Go level system.In ancient China, there was the title of Chess Master and the official title of Go Nine Rank System and Chess Edict.

In ancient my country, those who had extremely high attainments and achievements in a certain skill were called "sages".In the Jin Dynasty, the invincible player of Go was called a chess master.It is the highest honorary title given to Go players in ancient times.In the early days of the Warring States period, Yiqiu, the best chess player in the whole country, and Du Ling, who was known as the number one Go player in the Western Han Dynasty, both had the honor and strength equivalent to the chess master.During the Three Kingdoms period, there were many Go masters. Yan Ziqing and Ma Suiming, the masters of Wu State at that time, were promoted as "chess masters" by the chess world in the later Jin Dynasty.They are the first batch of chess masters in the history of Chinese Go.

In ancient my country, the nine-rank system of Go was implemented.The time started from the Three Kingdoms era, and it was followed by successive dynasties, which lasted for more than 500 years.During the Han and Wei Dynasties, there were frequent Go matches, and there were many masters. The levels of players were very different, and gradually formed different levels.In order to make a distinction, it was modeled on the nine-rank official system implemented by Cao Wei at that time, and Go was also divided into nine ranks, and the so-called Go nine-rank system was implemented.The "Book of Arts" written by Handan Chun of the Wei Dynasty at that time introduced in detail, the nine grades from high to low are: 1. Concentration; , Small and exquisite; Seven, fighting strength; Eight, Ruoyu;Later, Zhang Jing in the Northern Song Dynasty also had the same records about chess products.Xu Zhongyi, a man of the Ming Dynasty, made specific supplements and explanations in the book "Shi Shi Xian Ji" about how the nine-rank system of Go is evaluated according to chess strength.He said: The first-grade ecstasy refers to those who are unpredictable in chess skills, can predict the future, and are invincible in the world without fighting and defeating others; Go first; the third grade is specific, it refers to: entering into the spirit and accepting forgiveness first, when the situation is approaching, you can realize it when you see it; , the intention is to open the secluded; the fifth grade of wisdom refers to the three sons of Shourao, who fail to pass through the seclusion, and use wisdom in battle; Pin fighting strength refers to the five sons of Shourao, who must fight when they are in the middle of the game, fight against their opponents, and focus on fighting strength without wit.The author did not comment on the chess strength of the eighth and ninth ranks, leaving it to future generations to think about.This nine-rank system has laid the foundation for the Go rank system currently implemented in our country.The current Go rank system divides players into nine ranks according to their strength, and the highest rank is Jiu Dan.

According to historical records, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty Xiao Yan loved Go very much and often played it all night long.He attached great importance to and appreciated the Go masters at that time.He once instructed the Go masters Liu Yun and Duke Lu Yuan to host a national Go competition, which was huge and caused a sensation.After the game, Liu and Lu presided over the ratings for the participating chess players.At that time, there were 278 players who were graded. As for the number of players participating in the competition, there were naturally more players.This can be said to be the earliest national Go game with available data in the history of our country.

Our country's Go official title system began in the Tang Dynasty.In order to educate emperors, princes and courtiers, the "Inner Literature Museum" was set up in the early Tang Dynasty, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Education.At the beginning of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he set up the Hanlin Daizhao as a servant of literary skills.Go has chess waiting for an edict, which belongs to the Hanlin Academy, and the official rank belongs to the ninth rank.At that time, the famous chess orders included Wang Jixin, Zheng Guanyin and so on.Although the official rank of Qi Tai Zhao is low, but because he can often get close to the emperor, some of them become high officials because of the emperor's appreciation.For example, Wang Shuwen of Tang Shunzong was promoted to prime minister by waiting for the imperial edict.

The system of chess waiting for imperial edicts lasted for more than 500 years from the early Tang Dynasty to the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, it existed in name only and ceased to exist as a system.