Xie Yimin

Xie Yimin (謝 依旻 alternate spellings Hsieh Yi Min or Shei Imin) is a 7 dan professional of the Nihon Ki-in, born November 16, 1989 in Taiwan. Student of Ko Mosei.

She became shodan in 2004 at age 14 years 4 months. Xie held the record for the youngest ever female pro in Japan until 2010, when Fujisawa Rina passed her. 3 dan in 2006, 4 dan in 2008, 5 dan in 2010, 6 dan from 2012-02-01, 7 dan from August 2021 (with 120 wins).

In 2013, she was undisputedly the best female professional in Japan, holding all three titles and the record for most female professional titles, with 15 to her name. She is the 1st Honorary Women's Honinbo after winning the Female Honinbo five times in a row.

However, by 2016 she had a serious rival who probably overtook her next year: Fujisawa Rina. Xie lost both the Female Honinbo and Female Meijin to Fujisawa (2016 and 2017 respectively), as well as the Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup and the Senko Cup.

2017

• Female Kisei

2016

• Female Meijin (d. Aoki Kikuyo by 2:1)
• Female Kisei (d. Yoshihara Yukari by 2:0)
• Female Saikyo (d. Mukai Chiaki by 1:0)
• Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup (d. Aoki Kikuyo by 1:0)

2015

• Female Honinbo (d. Fujisawa Rina by 3:2)
• Runner up of the 2nd Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup, losing to O Keii by 1.5 points.
• Female Meijin (d. Suzuki Ayumi by 2:0)
• Female Kisei (d. Konishi Kazuko by 2:0)

2014

• Female Meijin (d. Kato Keiko by 2:1)
• Female Kisei (d. Aoki Kikuyo by 2:0)

2013

• 16 wins, 18 losses
• Female Meijin (d. Okuda Aya by 2:0)
• Female Kisei (d. Aoki Kikuyo by 2:0)

2012

• 21 wins, 21 losses
• Female Honinbo (d. Okuda Aya by 3:0)
• Female Meijin (d. Mukai Chiaki by 2:0)
• Lost Female Kisei title 1:2 to Aoki Kikuyo

2011

• 33 wins, 15 losses
• Female Honinbo (d. Mukai Chiaki by 3:1)
• Female Meijin (d. Mukai Chiaki by 2:1)
• Female Kisei (d. Umezawa Yukari by 2:0)
• Ricoh Pair Cup?, together with O Meien

2010

• 22 wins, 11 losses
• Female Honinbo (d. Mukai Chiaki by 3:0)
• Female Meijin (d. Mukai Chiaki by 2:0)
• Female Kisei (d. Umezawa Yukari by 2:0)

2009

• 27 wins, 15 losses
• Female Honinbo (d. Aoki Kikuyo by 3:1)
• Daiwa Ladies Cup (d. Kobayashi Izumi) (not counted as pro title)
• Female Meijin (d. Chinen Kaori by 2:1)

2008

• 26 wins, 17 losses
• Female Honinbo (d. Suzuki Ayumi by 3:1)
• Silver medalist in the Mixed pair competition at 1st WMSG, together with Zhou Junxun
• Daiwa Ladies Cup (d. Kobayashi Izumi) (not counted as pro title)
• Runner up the 10th Female Strongest Tournament (defeated 2:0 by Kato Keiko)
• Female Meijin (d. Kato Keiko by 2:0)

2007

• 40 wins, 16 losses
• Female Honinbo (d. Yashiro Kumiko by 3:0)

2006

• 24 wins, 14 losses
• Winner of 1st Hiroshima Arumi Cup (not counted as pro title)
• Runner up in 3rd Nakano Cup (under-20 tournament), losing to Iyama Yuta in the final.
• Defeated Konishi Kazuko (8p) on Christmas Day to win the 8th Female Strongest Tournament (女流最強位), becoming Japan's youngest ever woman's title holder at the age of 17 years and 1 month.

2005

• 28 wins, 18 losses

2004

• 8 wins, 6 losses

Weblinks

• Nihon Ki-in player profile
• Vogue interview with English translation

Videos

• A clip from a match Xie Yimin&Iyama Yuuta vs Ke Jie&Yu Zhiying in 2017 Pair Go World Cup where the players couldn't stop from laughing. bilibili link