Linxuan He

Region
Spain

Joined
2025

Achievements
Over the past decade I’ve been lucky to experience competitive riichi mahjong in both China and Europe, and now on the world stage. I began by winning several local tournaments in Chengdu, China, before moving to Europe, where I have since earned eight EMA trophies, including three first-place finishes and a second place in a WRC League season.

I’ve held the position of EMA #1 ranked riichi player for a couple of years and have consistently placed highly in international events. At WRC Vienna, I finished 2nd overall in the qualification round and advanced to the Top 16. Most recently, at WRC 2025 Tokyo, I represented the Portugal/Spain team, which went on to win the inaugural team championship title.

Background
I first encountered riichi mahjong about ten years ago in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, where I fell in love with the mix of calculation, psychology, and emotion at the table. I started out in local clubs, playing long sessions with friends and gradually moving into local tournaments, where I won my first trophies and realised I wanted to take the game more seriously.

In 2017 I moved to Spain, and for a while my main connection to mahjong was online games to stay in touch with friends back in China and to meet new players across Europe. In 2019 I discovered EMA and the European tournament scene, which completely changed my relationship with the game. Since then I’ve travelled across Europe for events, built friendships with players from many countries, and had the chance to compete at WRC in Vienna and Tokyo.

For me, riichi mahjong has become a bridge between places and languages: from Chengdu to Spain to the UK, to the wider EMA community, and now to Japan and the global WRC family.