Vogue entrevista a Xie Yimin

Vogue entrevista a Xie Yimin

Transcript of the video in English


I started playing Go when I was 5 years old.
After I turned 7, I left Taiwan and went to Korea by myself to study Go. [Editor: the Taiwanese Go Association wasn't established until the year 2000.]
A few years later, when I was 12, I went on to study in Japan. I probably studied seriously for around seven years in total.
When I first arrived at the Nihon Kiin, I had to learn to kneel while I played. At first this took some getting used to, as games would last for 2-3 hours.
I would kneel until my legs and feet went numb. However, my Go Sensei (teacher) said that, before the goban, one must learn to display a modest demeanour before one can become strong at Go.

Xie Yimin: Women’s Honinbo Meijin.

I was different from the other students because I was from Taiwan.
Sometimes after losing a game, the other students would go home straight away. But I couldn’t.
So I had to learn to be more strong-willed than the others.
Still, this didn’t always guarantee a win.
The game I’m playing through for you now is one I lost.
I used to get quite upset after I lost a game, and would replay it over and over in my head.
To be honest, other than at Go, I’d say I’m not a very graceful loser.

Actually, Go has never come easily to me – I’ve always found it very difficult. If I could face every game calmly, that would be ok, but I’m always nervous.
Even now, I have trouble calming myself down before every game. But I believe in myself, because my family believes in me.
I look at every game as an opportunity for me to demonstrate this and to learn more about Go.