Shei Imin

Xie Yimin (; born on 16 November 1989) is a Taiwanese-born professional Go player in Japan. She holds the titles of Honorary Female Honinbo and Honorary Female Meijin, and, as of 2016, holds three major female titles in Japan: Female Meijin, Female Kisei and Female Honinbo.

Biography Xie started playing Go at the age of five at the Go school that her older brother was attending. At age seven, she competed in a children's group tournament held in South Korea as the fifth member of the Taipei team, and won three out of three matches. After winning the Kaiho National Children's Go Cup at age eight, Cheng Mingchi introduced her to Kou Mousei, her future teacher. Xie became an insei at the Nihon Ki-in in 2002.

Xie became a professional Go player in 2004. By becoming a professional at age 14 years and 4 months, she set the record for the youngest female professional player at the time. Also, she was the fourth female player to become a professional through the main league rather than the females-only special league.

In 2006, Xie became the first winner of the Wakagoi Cup, a tournament among players 30 years old or younger and 5-dan or lower. This was the first victory of a mix-gender tournament by a female player in the history of Nihon Ki-in. Also in 2006, she won the title of Female Saikyo. This set the record for the youngest female holder of a title, at age 17 and 1 month. She defended the Female Meijin title from the challenger Kikuyo Aoki, making this her ninth consecutive year with the title. In June 2017, she became the runner up for the 4th Aizu Central Hospital Cup.

Promotion record

Titles and runners-up Title Wins Runners-up Wakagoi Cup 1 (2006) 0 Female Kisei 7 (2010–11, 13–17) 1 Female Meijin 9 (2008–16) 1 (2017) Female Honinbo 8 (2007–12, 15, 17) 1 Aizu Central Hospital Cup 1 (2016) 2 (2015, 2017) Female Saikyo 1 (2016) 1 (2017) Total 26 6

Personal life Xie enjoys hip-hop dance as a hobby, and has previously performed at various events.