What does「勝負ありだ」mean?

Question

From what I see, it said "It's a match." Other place have said "what a battle", "it's a win," but there no consistency. Does anyone know?

Answer 1

The character, 勝負, comes from 勝つ (win) and 負ける (lose) so it means victory or defeat.

So 勝負あり describes the situation where we know who the winner is. The winner might say this when s/he feels confident that s/he is going to win.

It's a win and It's a match make sense but What a battle doesn't really make sense.

Answer 2

According to this link, it is something said when the winners/losers have been decided in a match. That might be why the translator has taken liberties to use different translations. The "what a battle" doesn't sound right to me, but that's just my opinion.

Answer 3

www.weblio.jp -- 勝負ありとは? 日本語表現辞典。 読み方： しょうぶあり -- 勝負事について勝負が付いた、勝敗が決した、といった意味の表現。勝敗が決したことを宣言する台詞であることが多い。

It's similar to 「勝負あった」 in Sumo. -- means [ (the) match is over ]

shinpankitei.pdf（388KB） - 日本相撲連盟

www.nihonsumo-renmei.jp/about/pdf/shinpankitei.pdf

. . . 示し、「勝負あった」 と発声するものとする。 第5条 一度「勝名乗り」を上げて判定を下した後は、異議又は疑義の申立てをすることが できない。ただし、審判員の協議結果と異なる選手に「勝名乗り」を上げた場合 その他明らかに主審の勘違い又は間違いと認め ...