Minutes of the 26th General Meeting of the International Go Federation Time: 11:45–12:45, Sunday, 27 May 2007 Venue: Conference Room, 3F, The Nihon Ki-in, Tokyo (Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku) Agenda 1. Confirmation of the minutes of the 25th IGF GM 2. Election of president and two new directors — Appointment of the Office Director and Assistant Office Director 3. Report by the Secretary General 4. Report on operations — Report by Eduardo Lopez, IGF (a) The 1st Korean PM’s International Baduk Tournament held in Jeonju in October 2006 (b) Renovation of IGF Website 5. The plan for IMSA to hold the World Mind Sports Games in October 2008 and related items — Report by Martin Stiassny (a) Report on the 3rd meeting of IMSA, held in Paris in June 2006 — Report by Erik Puyt (a) Report on the 41st General Meeting of GAISF held in Beijing in April 2007 (b) 4th meeting of IMSA, held in Beijing in April 2007 (c) 1st World Mind Sports Games 6. Financial report for 2006 and budget for 2007 7. Scheduled operations this year and next year (a) 29th World Amateur Go Championship (2008) (b) 18th International Amateur Pair Go Championship (November 2007) (c) 2nd Korean PM’s International Baduk Tournament (October 2007) (d) 1st IGF Go Promotion & Support Activity 8. Application by the Philippine Go Association for re-affiliation with the IGF. 9. Reports on Go activity by countries not yet affiliated with the IGF: Brunei, Greece 10. Concerning the nonparticipation by the DPR Korea in the WAGC. 11. Other Originally Attached Documents: Minutes of the 25th IGF GM Candidates for directors for 2007-2009 Financial Report for 2006, Budget for 2007 Minutes of the IMSA Executive Council Meeting, Minutes of the IMSA Beijing Meeting, 2006-2007 IMSA Report Application for Membership of the IGF of the Philippine Go Association Introductory Document of Brunei Go Letter from DPR Korea concerning WAGC participation Minutes Owing to problems with flights, the arrival of five members was delayed; since the DPR Korea did not participate, 63 members attended the general meeting. With IGF President Norio Kudo in the chair, the meeting began at 11:45. At the beginning, the player representing Costa Rica, which became a member of the IGF at the previous GM and which was participating in the WAGC for the first time, was introduced. 1. Confirmation of the minutes of the 25th IGF GM The minutes of the previous GM were confirmed. 2. Election of president and two directors — Election of the Office Director and appointment of the Assistant Office Director (Refer to "Candidates for directors for 2007-2009") (a) President When Mr. Kudo resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nihon Ki-in in summer last year, he expressed his intention to resign as IGF President also. In view of the established custom for the Nihon Ki-in Chairman to serve as IGF President, Hiromu Okabe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nihon Ki-in and President of Denso Corporation, was recommended by the IGF Board of Directors as candidate for the post of IGF President. He was elected to the post. (b) Directors (two) Two directors completed their terms as of the coming AGM: Kazunari Fujisawa, Office Director, and Maria Dolores Puerta. Ms. Puerta had announced her intention to stand for another term, and the board approved her candidacy. Ei Kanda, Director of the Overseas Department, as successor to Mr. Fujisawa, was recommended as the candidate to be his successor and the Board of Directors approved his candidacy. Ms. Puerta and Mr. Kanda were elected. Since last year, the post for one of the Asian zone directors had been vacant; no progress had subsequently been made concerning a candidate to fill this vacancy, so it was decided to conduct the business of the IGF with a board of ten directors this year, too. The Office Director appoints the Assistant Office Director. It was announced that Mr. Kanda had appointed Ichiro Tanioka, President of Osaka University of Commerce, as the successor to Yukari Umezawa, whose term of office ended at the coming AGM. 3./4. Report by the Secretary General/Report on operations Since Eduardo Lopez, IGF Vice President, was absent on urgent private business, the Secretary General Yuki Shigeno presented the reports on items 3 and 4 together. The 1st Korean Prime Minister Cup International Baduk Tournament (KPMC) was held in Jeonju from 20 to 27 October 2006 and was organized by the Korean Amateur Baduk Association (KABA). The IGF cooperated in the organizing of this tournament. At the same time as the number of international tournaments increased, the IGF reached a new stage in its development, linking up and working with another organization for the first time. We received a management fee of 700,000 yen from KABA. The IGF plans to continue cooperating with other bodies in various ways to spread Go. A representative of the Philippine Go Association, which had been expelled from the IGF in 2005, participated in the KPMC under special conditions; as the result of discussions with this representative, steps were subsequently taken to establish the association on a new basis, and this led to the application for re-affiliation with the IGF. It was also reported that new activities have begun in Japan under the umbrella of mind sports, with the IGF organizing events with the Japanese Bridge and Chess associations. 5. The plan for IMSA to hold the World Mind Sports Games in October 2008 and related items (Refer to "Minutes of the IMSA Paris Meeting", "Minutes of the IMSA Beijing Meeting", "2006-2007 IMSA Report") Erik Puyt reported on the IMSA Paris and Beijing meetings and other matters. One of the major goals of IMSA is to have Go included in the Olympic Movement. At this point, it is impossible for Go to participate in the Olympics themselves, so we are engaged in a project to stage our own event, the 1st World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) in a new form in connection with the IOC. The WMSG are scheduled to be held in Beijing in October 2008 after the Olympic Games. We have obtained the support of the IOC and GAISF for the WMSG and, through the great efforts of the Chinese Board and Card Games Centre, have also obtained the support of the Chinese government. We have satisfied some of the necessary conditions, but the biggest task, securing a budget, has not yet been completed, and we are seeking the cooperation of IMSA members. Martin Stiassny is responsible for working out the estimates of the costs of IGF competitions. The chairman Norio Kudo commented: "The IGF will itself explore various possibilities by the time of the sponsors’ final report at the end of September, but in the end we will decide our policy on receiving this report." 6. Financial report for 2006 and budget for 2007 (Refer to "Financial Report for 2006, Budget for 2007") The amounts carried forward to the following year in the 2006 and 2007 budgets are about 5,167,289 yen and 7,012,025 yen respectively. In 2006, the management fees for two Pair Go Championships, the ones for 2006 and 2007, were transferred to our bank account and we also received special income in the form of a fee of 700,000 yen for cooperating with the KPMC, so there was a large unexpected increase in income in 2006. Concerning the 2007 budget: because there was extra income, we have set up a new item of expenditure on a continuing basis, the Go Promotion and Support Activity item. It will be used to dispatch teachers and provide Go equipment to countries where Go has newly become established and which could be expected to become members of the IGF in the future. Part of this item has also been used to invite Go Seigen to the WAGC Opening Ceremony and Reception as a special guest. Also, a sum was allocated for improving the design of the IGF website. Both the financial report and the budget were approved by the meeting. 7. Scheduled operations this year and next year The details of the 2008 World Amateur Go Championship have not yet been finalized. The 18th International Amateur Pair Go Championship will be held in Tokyo on 10 and 11 November 2007. The 2nd Korean PM’s International Baduk Tournament will be held in Suwon City from 9 to 16 October 2007, with participation centring on IGF members. We are exploring the possibility of holding a special IGF DM on this occasion, with the cooperation of KABA. 8. Application by the Philippine Go Association for reaffiliation with the IGF (Refer to "Application for Membership of the IGF of the Philippine Go Association") The Philippine Go Association was expelled from the IGF in May 2005. Last year a Philippine representative was invited to compete on a special basis in the Korean Prime Minister Cup, and on that occasion Shigeno had the opportunity to exchange views on the state of Go in his country. At the end of the year, the Philippine Go Association was reconstituted with a new board, centring on Mr. Izeki, a Japanese national living in the Philippines. Among Chinese, Korean and Japanese living in the Philippines, there are about 20 players of 5- or 6-dan in strength, and recently they have been teaching local players and holding tournaments on a regular basis. The meeting approved the re-affiliation of the Philippine Go Association. Mr. Izeki of the Philippine Go Association and Mrs. Isabel, the Assistant Office Manager, were introduced and gave an address. 10. Reports on Go activity by countries not yet affiliated with the IGF: Brunei, Greece (Refer to "Introductory Document of Brunei Go") In January 2006, IGF Secretary General Shigeno received an inquiry by e-mail from Brunei (see the introductory document). In Brunei, a Go club centring on students has been founded, and it seems to be organizing classes and tournaments. As a link in the new promotional activity instituted by the IGF this year, it is scheduled to send a professional Go player to Brunei to teach and to survey the state of Go. We also will recommend the inclusion of Brunei in the 2nd KPMC in October this year. The IGF has received a report from EGF President Tony Atkins that Greece has a Go organization that is at present in the process of applying to the Greek government for registration. 10. Concerning the nonparticipation by the DPR Korea in the WAGC (Refer to "Letter from DPR Korea concerning WAGC participation") There was a request from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Go associations of Chinese Taipei and the DPR Korea to change their countries’ names and not to display their national flags when participating in the WAGC. The DPR Korea responded with a protest and decided not to participate in the tournament. The IGF regretted this but judged that it was unavoidable in view of the circumstances of the sponsoring country. The DPR Korea also sent a protest note to the International Olympic Committee concerning this matter and received a reply, but at this point there has been no direct communication with the IGF from the IOC. 11. Other The IGF website has become independent from the Nihon Ki-in. Since a few days ago, the WAGC news site has been linked with the IGF site. The meeting concluded at 12:55. Yuki Shigeno Secretary General The International Go Federation 10 June 2007