Nie began learning Go at the age of nine and won the inaugural World Amateur Go Championship in 1979. Nie was given 9 dan rank in 1982.[2][3] He became famous in the Go world after leading China to victory in the China-Japan Supermatches, beating several top Japanese players including his teacher, Fujisawa Hideyuki.[2][4] He earned the nickname "Steel Goalkeeper" for his ability to string together wins as the last Chinese player left.[5] Nie won the Tianyuan twice, in 1991 and 1992.[6] Nie authored the book Nie Weiping on Go: The Art of Positional Judgment in 1995.[7]
^ abSheridan, Michael (2024). The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and His New China. London, U.K.: Headline Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN9781035413485. Xi made his first real friends with two other boys, Nie Weiping and Liu Weiping, who were both the sons of senior military men. [...] Nie Weiping, who had started to play Go, the ancient board game, at the age of nine, went on to become China's most famous player. Liu Weiping embraced military discipline and followed his father into the People's Liberation Army to become a general.
