31st General Meeting of the IGF
The 31st General Meeting of the IGF on May 12 in the conference room at the Baiyun Hotel, following the orientation meeting. The general meeting opened with an address by outgoing IGF president Chang Zhenming, in which he thanked tournament sponsor GAC Trumpchi and announced that the next IGF president would be from Japan. This was followed by an announcement of the names of the proposed new IGF president (former UNESCO secretary general Matsuura Koichiro) and two new directors (Kobayashi Chizu, Nihon Kiin Director, and Ying Minghaw, Chairman of the Board of the Ing Foundation).
After approval of these appointments, IGF office director Liu Shiming gave a detailed report in which he said he hoped to make the IGF more democratic, more effective, and more visible to the world at large. He spoke of the need for more women’s tournaments, his hope for expanded mind games events, and China’s plans support European go.
Director Eduardo Lopez then gave a report on the IGF’s activities in 2011, which included organizing the 32nd World Amateur Go Championship in Matsue, Japan, and the Student Oza and International Amateur Pair Go tournaments in Tokyo. Eduardo also announced that Brunei, Kazakhstan, and Latvia had joined the IGF, bringing the total number of IGF member countries and territories to 74.
IGF secretary general Shigeno Yuki then gave the financial report and announced that Thailand and Australia would act as auditor countries for the coming year.
IGF vice-president Thomas Hsiang announced that the Ing Chang-Ki Foundation would become an Association Member of the IGF, while the Chinese Taipei Weichi Association would become the IGF member organization representing Chinese Taipei. Thomas also reported that the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) had signed a five-year contract with a firm in Singapore to develop mind sports, that another world mind sports games was being planned for August 9-23 in Lille, France with a shortened go schedule limited to amateur players, and that SportAccord had signed a contract to hold world mind games in Beijing for the next four years, with individual and pair competition and with an expanded auxiliary Internet tournament.
IGF Director Martin Finke then explained the anti-doping rules for the current World Amateur Go Championship.
Finally, it was announced that the World Amateur Go Championship will be held in Sendai, Japan in 2013, and in Korea in 2014, and the International Amateur Pair Go tournament will be held again in Tokyo in 2012. It was also announced that the IMSA subsidy will be used for a go teaching project for children in Latin America, starting this year, and for a go symposium at the upcoming American Go Congress.