Corporate Policy of the the International Go Federation

IGF has no political or religious objectives. As the participation in our championships show, the IGF considers it a main objective to strive for the inclusion of women, children and the elderly. Any barrier for these groups will be actively tackled.

In our World Championship in 2005 the youngest player was 12 and the eldest 75. Our championship is open to men and women and several times a woman achieved an award-winning position (i.e. finished in the top 8). Our positive action policy is highlighted by the invention of Pair Go (a new discipline where a woman and man form a team together).

The essence of Go is characterised by what in Japan is called "Shudan" (Handtalk). This term implies that language is not necessary to play a game. Go is a sport of harmony, in which the players cooperate to construct a world on the Go board. We believe that Go, as a means of communication that transcends the barriers of race, religion, age and language, is going to play an ever more important role in the hearts and lives of men, women, young and old.

From this philosophy players get a great deal of responsibility to ensure a proper conclusion of a game. Furthermore, the rules of Go are very simple and pure, so a problem almost never occurs during a tournament. If it does happen, there are qualified referees and tournament organisers who have the capacity to realise an acceptable outcome for all parties involved.

Therefore, the IGF is willing to adopt and implement the World Anti-Doping Code and to recognise the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) jurisdiction and accept the Code of Sports-related Arbitration. This was confirmed in a letter by our president Kudo Norio. At this moment our policy is not actually aligned to WADA and CAS. We would like to stress that the IGF feels that the GAISF can assist us and other members to improve our organisations so that we live up to the requirements that society, our members and the players will expect. Fair play, arbitration and doping are a top priority and we look forward to cooperating on these issues.