Insei
An insei, a Japanese go term, is a student studying at either the Nihon Ki-in or the Kansai Ki-in to become a professional player.
The Korean equivalent is called Yeonguseng (研究生), the Chinese student is called a Yuansheng (院生 yuànshēng or yuan4 sheng1)
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Nihon Ki-in Professional Examination
For the qualification process, see Nihon Ki-in Professional Examination.
Results available at https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/player/saiyou/result/ (Japanese).
Benefits for Insei
All insei have to pay every month for their training. In exchange of their payments, there are various benefits for them.
- Discounts at directly operated book stores.
- Invitation to professional youth tournaments (for top-graded insei)
- Special treatment at player recruitment
- Kansai Ki-in usually limits their recruitment to insei
- At Nihon Ki-in examinations, insei can skip preliminaries for external participants. In 2019, Nihon Ki-in activated a recommendation system for female insei. Tsuji Hana and others are the first example to obtain their professional status by this way.
On the other hand, inseis are prohibited from participating in amateur tournaments.
Well-Known ex-Insei Players and Instructors
- Aragaki Nozomi - Aragaki Miki's sister ( Profile)
- Fujiwara Akiko - Waseda University Go Club alumni, former representative at the World Students Go Oza Championship.
- Inaba Yoshiko
- Kurita Yoshiki - the first amateur to enter league stage of a pro tournament
- Oda Ayako - Former female amateur champion
- Osawa Maya - Osawa Narumi's sister ( Official Blog, Profile), her father has a shidoin license.
- Oshima Reina - Former female amateur champion
- Ozeki Minoru - 3-time winner at the All Japan Students Go Oza Championship and twice Amateur Honinbo
- Takakura Kozue - well-known go instructor
- Nakano Yuki - Founder of JILTA
Ex-Insei players in amateur tournaments
In Japan, some amateur tournaments exclude ex-Insei players, but collegiate tournaments such as the Female Student Honinbo, All Japan Students Go Oza Championship and the World Students Go Oza Championship (operated by the All Japan Student Go Federation) often admit them.
See Also
- Western Ex-Insei - Non-Asian players that used to be insei for some time
- Korean-style Insei League - Korean-style league on KGS for 10k-9d players
- German Insei School
- Studying Go in Japan