European Go Federation Annual General Meeting Held on 25 July 2003 in St Petersburg Present: Secretary - Matti Siivola Treasurer - Hans Kostka Vice-President - Oleg Gavrilov Auditor - Peter Zandveld EGCC – Frank Janssen Professional Player – Yuki Shigeno 25 Member Countries: Armenia – Ashot Magaryan, Astsaturyanc Ellada Austria – Erwin Gerstorfer Belgium - Giani Della Giovanna Belo-Russia – Alexander Suponev Bosnia & Herzegovina – Dragan Tepic Croatia - Zoran Mutabzija Czechia – Vladimir Danek Denmark - Torben Pedersen Finland – Matti Siivola France – Arnaud Knippel Germany - Michael Marz Italy - Gionata Soletti Lithuania – Martin Stiassny Netherlands – Frank Janssen Norway – Terje Christoffersen Poland – Michal Parkola Romania – Cornel Burzo Russia – Vladimir Gorzhaltsan Serbia & Montenegro – Zoran Jankovic Slovakia – Miroslav Smid Spain – Leif Petterson (observing only) Sweden - Henric Bergsaker, Tomas Boman (Minutes) Switzerland – Thomas Erker Ukraine - Arkadiy Bogatskiy United Kingdom - Steve Bailey 7 countries were not represented: Luxembourg, Turkey, Israel, Slovenia, Portugal, Ireland, Hungary. President, Tony Atkins, and Vice-President, Marc Gonzalez-Carnicer, were also not present The meeting was opened at 18:25 1. Opening of the Meeting, Verifying Presence and Voting Rights Before being allowed to enter the meeting room the delegates were checked for their voting rights. Matti Siivola opened the meeting and invited Martin Finke to chair the meeting. He was accepted. He proclaimed a moment of silence in honour of the memory of Anton Steiniger and Hans Pietsch. 23 voting members were found to be present (one arrived later). 2. Accepting the Agenda Matti Siivola commented that the constitution proposal had possibly not been circulated in time to all members. G. Soletti announced that he had changes to make but withdrew them. Martin Finke said that it was customary to have also the ongoing congress on the agenda and announced that the 2003 congress was to be discussed before the coming congresses. 3. Acceptance of Previous Year’s Minutes Gionata Soletti questioned whether last year’s Balance had been approved (point 9). Peter Zandveld said that the books had been checked after last year’s meeting and proposed that the 2002 balance be approved together with the 2003 balance. Gionata Soletti questioned that he had promised to provide information About the 2006 congress well before this AGM (point 11). Henric Bergsåker said that Gionata had in fact promised to provide two alternative sites to the Executive well before the AGM, to give the Executive the opportunity to chose between them. The chairman asked Matti Siivola and Oleg Gavrilov if such a statement had been made. Matti replied that he did not know and that Tony Atkins had written that part of the minutes. The meeting decided that it was unable to reconstruct what happened in this part of the 2002 meeting. Steve Bailey asked when the minutes had been ready and Matti Siivola replied that they had been distributed on 16.6.2003 together with the agenda. Martin Finke made the statement that this year the minutes would be ready within two months of the congress. Henric Bergsåker asked what had become of the video tapes from last year’s meeting and pointed out that the Executive had promised that the tapes were to be taken care of by the secretary and only by the secretary, and used for the minutes. Matti Siivola said that he never received the tapes and that hand written minutes had been used. The minutes, including the suggested changes were accepted: in favour 18, abstentions 4. 4. Admission of New Members Serbia and Montenegro was accepted as successors of Yugoslavia as member. Martin Finke declared that no new organisations had asked for observer status or membership. 5. Reports of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, etc The written reports by the President, secretary and treasurer had been handed out. Gionata Soletti requested the meeting note that it was unacceptable that the President was not present. Hans Kostka remarked that the membership payments had been late and inconsistent. He asked for an email to cover each transfer and these to be before 1.4.2004 Also 3 to 4 weeks should be allowed when requesting payment and that full bank details are supplied. Martin Finke summarised the report, mostly about the new EGF newsletter, by Vice-President Marc Gonzalez-Carnicer and said that it will be found on the website. Gionata Soletti asked the treasurer why the Italian Federation had been given an incorrect SWIFT code and said that much time had been wasted on that. He also asked why the budget in the treasurer’s report did not include 2002. Peter Zandveld commented it could be provided. 6. Auditor’s Report. Peter Zandveld commented that Fred Renaud was not present (T. Mark Hall had resigned in the autumn), so he had done the checking, but he had not checked all the detail of the Ing accounts. He said that he had reworked the financial figures in a more understandable way for the meeting, based on the books and report of the Treasurer. Gionata Soletti commented that this reworking should not be necessary. Peter read his report that noted he had found the books in good order. He also commented he could see no need for a special Ing account and treasurer, and recommended that the Ing account should be incorporated in the standard EGF account, as long as the money was spent in the correct way. Hans Kostka commented that all 2002 numbers and details are available from the treasurer. Frank Janssen expressed disappointment that the figures were not available in advance. Hans Kostka replied that he had sent the figures to Tony Atkins in April, but there had been delay in sending them out. Erwin Gerstorfer questioned the phrase in the Auditor’s report that payments to Russia had been made in an ”unusual way” and said that the EGF should not make payments in any unusual ways. Hans Kostka said that he had been asked by Viktor Bogdanov to collect money for the congress and then send it in one batch to Russia to avoid bank charges, but that he had then been asked to transfer the money to the United States. Oleg Gavrilov mentioned a Russian- US company. Nobody objected when Erwin said that the EGF should not make these kind of operations again. Gionata Soletti referred to various protests from Italy in the past. Hans Kostka replied that he got the books two years ago, including 8 bank accounts (which he has now reduced to 3), and said that he had had to figure out the way the books were done before. This was Hans’ first complete year of accounts. He also found it remarkable that the EGF has 200000 euro on its accounts. Martin Finke surmised that the transfer process from the previous treasurer to the present had probably not been completely satisfactory. Peter Zandveld proposed to accept the income and balance of 2003 with the exception of the Ing account, to be added later. Gionata Soletti questioned the handling of Fujitsu money and asked if there is a special plan for how to use it. Martin Finke replied that it is for the EGF to decide the plan. Gionata said that this is a strange procedure. Frank Janssen said that the money has been given to the EGF by Fujitsu and that the plan may require permission by Fujitsu. Peter Zandveld commented that the account had been checked in January and recommended the money be moved to a normal EGF account. Vote on the financial figures 2002-2003 except for Ing account: In favour 14, against 1, abstentions 9, accepted. 7. Reports of Chairmen of Existing Commissions & IGF Directors Constitution commission The report had been circulated. Henric Bergsåker said that a constitution commission had been appointed by the Executive just before Christmas, consisting of Tony Atkins, Henric Bergsåker, Christian Gawron, Zoltan Kelemen, Zoran Mutabzija and Jan van Rongen. It had worked out proposals based on suggestions from the members, but that only one of the proposals had been ready in time for the deadline in January. He said that the commission has a purely technical function and makes no decisions on its own and encouraged the members to comment on the various proposals via e-mail. Gionata Soletti asked who had appointed the commission and claimed that it had been appointed against the constitution, since the previous commission including himself had been on the website. Matti Siivola said that the meeting can confirm the members or decide who is going to be in the commission. Gionata asked why the composition of the commission had been changed. Peter Zandveld said that the commission can only make proposals and that Gionata can make proposals too if he wishes. Frank Janssen said that the important thing for a commission is to have a group of persons who really do something. It was agreed the commission should carry on without further discussion. Henric said that the matter of how commissions are appointed is discussed in section 4.3 of the commission report, that it is not clear from the constitution how commissions should be appointed, that the new commission has been appointed by the Executive just like the previous commission with Gionata in it. Members should give some thought to how the commissions should be appointed, by the Executive, by the AGM or in another way and send their comments to the constitution commission. Education and Youth Commission: Oleg Gavrilov mentioned the EGCC, the Fujitsu training, Korean Baduk teaching and the Pair Go system. Rules and Rating commission: Matti Siivola commented on the Referee Workshop and mentioned one dispute about a game at the last (2002) congress. He told that only three members were active and requested others to do more. Tournament Commission: This commission had worked on the Masters and European Cup proposals. Internet Commission: This was mentioned by Zoran Mutabzija. IGF Director’s Report by Erik Puyt had already been circulated. 8. Election of officers and auditors. The Russian representative asked for an executive enlarged to 7 persons. Martin Finke referred that to point 17 below. Gionata Soletti said that the by-election could be made within two months if the board was enlarged. Steve Bailey proposed to take that under point 17. Tony Atkins was elected as President, without counting of votes, since he was the only nominated candidate. The two candidates for Vice-President who were there were asked to present themselves and their programmes. Martin Stiassny mentioned the congresses he has organised and his 12 years as President of the German Go Federation. Oleg Gavrilov mentioned that the Hitachi sponsorship for the congress has been lost and said that he would work on getting Russian sponsorship, since the Russians are getting very rich now. Two Vice-Presidents were elected (it was pointed out that they have equal status): Oleg Gavrilov (13-9-1 in the first vote) and Martin Stiassny (20-4 in the second vote). Marc Gonzalez- Carnicer was not elected. Matti Siivola (Secretary), Hans Kostka (Treasurer), Frederic Renaud (Auditor) and Peter Zandveld (Auditor) were reelected, being the only candidates. Also Stefan Hruschka continues as Ing Treasurer T. Mark Hall was thanked for his 15 year long term as Auditor of the EGF There was a 25 minute break. 9. Constitution Change The proposal was to change article 6.7. Martin Finke pointed out that a majority of 3/4 of the members present was required (>18). In favour 17, against 3, abstentions 5, not accepted. Intermezzo: Gionata Soletti said that the President does not do his job. He mentioned the low number of participants at the congresses and proposed a vote of non-confidence against Tony Atkins. Hans Kostka said that he always had good contacts with the President. Oleg Gavrilov said that the job of being President is difficult. Martin Stiassny said that he had a lot of contact with Tony and did not approve of such a vote. Martin Finke remarked that Tony was not present, thus could not comment. Henric Bergsåker said that Tony has made an acceptable job and that it would not be formally correct to vote on non-confidence at that point, rather to have an extra general meeting. Peter Zandveld commented that it would not be good to vote on such a thing at that point in the agenda, it should have been done directly after the President’s report. Gionata insisted on voting. Martin Finke referred the issue to point 18, any other business. 10. Accepting the Budget 2003-2004 Erwin Gerstorfer objected to the technical quality of the copy which had been handed out, indicating the strange characters (internet codes) at the top of the page. The budget itself was ok, he said. Gionata Soletti waved the sheet in front of the meeting and said that a serious budget should have been circulated two months before the meeting. Frank Janssen said that the budget had been available on the net and that anyone could have printed it out in their preferred format. Vote for accepting the budget: in favour 13, against 2, abstentions 9. Accepted. 11. Creation of any New Commissions or Changing Old Ones Martin Finke proposed to support the commissions to continue their work. Vladimir Gorzhaltsan asked about education, internet and promotion. Zoran Mutabzija said that no requests for joining the Internet Commission had been received. Martin Finke referred to the report by Marc Gonzalez-Carnicer, saying that members had been sought for the promotion commission but not found. It was said that a promotion commission should be installed. 12. Future Congresses. 2003: Russia. Terje Christoffersen asked why there was no rapid tournament. Oleg Gavrilov replied that there was no time for it. Michael Marz said that the professionals should be more apparent and pointed out that there were no Chinese professionals. Oleg Gavrilov said that the Chinese got their visas too late (due to SARS) and that there were to be lessons with professionals during the second week of the congress. Gionata Soletti asked for permission for Yuki Shigeno to speak. She said that she had been to 7 congresses, but that this time she had received little information and it was difficult to do anything, she had tried to make herself useful but it was not possible, there wasn’t even a demonstration board available. Peter Zandveld said that generally the EGF executive should be more active seeing that the organisers do what is necessary, e.g. regarding professionals. Steve Bailey mentioned the British Go Organisers’ Handbook and suggested a web page about organising the EGC. Hans Kostka mentioned the 20 euro reservation fees and said that he had been asked if they were going to repay it to people not attending the congress. He also said that the hotel rooms were cheaper for people who arranged them themselves and said that he had expected on the contrary lower prices for the rooms which were booked through the organisers. Vladimir Gorzhaltsan said that the reservation fees are going to be refunded to people not attending the congress. There was a discussion about the generally lower prices for Russians than for foreigners at the congress. It was explained that often by law in Russia there are different prices for Russians and for people from abroad; somebody who is lucky may get a Russian price. Terje Christoffersen mentioned that he had reserved a single room and paid the reservation fee in advance but that there was no single room for him when he arrived. Vladimir said that there weren’t enough rooms because there were more western participants than expected. Steve Bailey said that the Russian Go Federation tries to make money on the congress and that this would be ok as long as the profit goes to Go activities in the country. Martin Finke asked where any profit would go and Vladimir confirmed that it does go to spreading Go in Russia. 24.7-7.8.2004: Tuchola. Michal Parkola said preparations proceed according to plan. Registration will be possible on the web from December. There is a flyer available. Visas will be required for certain countries, but EU entry may change some. It is possible to register for a newsletter about the congress. He said that a financial plan will be sent to the EGF by e-mail. Martin Finke commented that the registration should start earlier. 2005: Prague. Vladimir Danek said that the congress will be similar to the one ten years ago but in a different place with more nature around. The EGF will be provided with a budget. The meeting agreed that the budget is only for the executive. They count on 500 attendees. 2006: Italy. At this point of the meeting a leaflet about the 2006 congress was handed out. Gionata Soletti said that the congress will be held in Frascati, 20 minutes from Rome. He mentioned the Frascati wine. Michal Parkola noted that the accommodation was announced to cost from 20 euro and upwards. Gionata raised the possibility of using EGF money to support pros and young and poor people. There would be no camping but possibly a church hall. Hans Kostka asked how many people they are able to accommodate. The answer was 600-700. Henric Bergsåker asked about the financial plan which the AGM had decided should be provided in the case of Italy 4-5 years before the congress and asked if there is going to be any prize money. Gionata said that he does not know yet if there is to be prize money, and although he objects to it all going to visitors, he has no problem in principal in giving prize money. He said that there is a financial plan, but it is complicated and not checkable. He said that a congress should be monitored but not controlled. Peter Zandveld said that more control and help by the EGF would be good, but that good financial control of expenses of a Go congress is very difficult. Henric asked if it will be necessary to break Italian law to have a non- profit organisation handling registration fees etc. Gionata said that there are 3 types of organisation in Italy, so it is no problem handling registration fees and prize money. Peter recommended to start a special non- profit organisation to run the congress, as happened at some previous events. 2007: candidates Austria, Belgium, France, Sweden. Belgium and Sweden had distributed leaflets on their proposals beforehand and some already had web sites. Each applicant presented their proposals briefly. Austria: very advantageous to have it in a congress centre in Villach in 2007, because of a special cultural festival in Kernten. There are possibilities to get substantial sponsor money from the local government, to be used as the organisers wish. Belgium: a university in Leuven, detailed information on prices for accommodation etc. France: Montpellier, similar to the Marseille congress. Sweden: first alternative a boarding school in the countryside at Kjesater, but one hour by train from Stockholm, cheap accommodation available. The vote was done in three rounds, the country with least votes dropping: Austria (11, 11, 13) Belgium (1, -, -) France (3, 2, -) Sweden (11, 10, 12). Austria was selected 2008: Those interested included Serbia & Montenegro, Belgium, France and Sweden. 13. Rules for European Pair Go and World Qualifying. The new proposal for World Pair Go selection system had been handed out and Michael Marz summarised it. The previous email vote had insufficient voters. Votes: in favour 21, against 1, abstentions 3, accepted. 14. European Masters and European Cup. Proposals had been handed out and Matti Siivola summarised them. First the European Masters 2003 was discussed, the proposal was to use 3000 euro from the Fujitsu budget for this purpose. Gionata Soletti said that it is not interesting to have a group of strong players playing only themselves, better to give them the money to come to the EGC. Martin Stiassny said that the Masters could be played in the weekend of the EGC. Vote: in favour 11, against 2, abstentions 11, accepted. There would be no Masters in 2004 but the European Masters for 2005 and subsequent years would be held at the EGC: in favour 10, against 3, abstentions 11, accepted. The European Cup will be a tournament circuit that tournament organisers can buy into. Vote: in favour 10, against 3, abstentions 11, accepted. 15. European Tournament Calendar. Up for discussion were Toyota-PandaNet Tour, Toyota-Denso Oza, Ing Cup, European Pair Go, European Ladies, European Youth and European Teams. Members were invited to make proposals. (EGF will make a webpage for this for the tournaments in the coming years.) The Toyota-Denso Oza is at EGCC 5-8.2.2004. The next Ing Cup is in Czechia; Vladimir Danek announced it for 5-7.3.2004. UK offered to take the PairGo (2004 is in Romania) and Germany would consider organising the European Youth in 2004 instead of 2005. Ukraine would also consider running it. Serbia said they might run the Teams. Frank Janssen requested the members to prepare for 2006 and suggested trying to stay 2 years ahead in the schedule. 16. Representation outside Europe. The cancellation of the WAGC 2003 and the new Korean Baduk Championships were discussed (starting 27.9.2003 and lasting one week). Team captain for the Pair Go championship: Guido Tautorat. Croatia should still get to send a Team Captain to the World Amateur. Erik Puyt was confirmed as continuing as IGF director and Martin Stiassny was nominated to replace Zoran Mutabzija as IGF director next year (21 votes in favour). 17. Items requested by the members. Russian suggestion to extend the Executive to 7 persons. It was noted the President and several previous meetings had been against this motion. In favour 11, against 9, accepted. Martin Finke asked countries to nominate candidates and that the executive should aim at having a postal vote within 2 or 3 months. Russian request for support for a bid to run the 2006 World Youth Goe Championships. Erwin Gerstorfer advised against this, in view of the poor organisation of this congress and said that the Austrian Go Federation will not permit any Austrian young people to go to Russia for such an event. In favour of EGF support 8, against 6, abstentions 11. It was pointed out that this does not preclude supporting other European candidatures and that it is the Ing Chang Ki Foundation who makes the final choice. Italian motions: Suggestion of 6.5 komi. Matti Siivola (rules and rating commission) said that the EGF can not decide this as the ING rules are the preferred set of rules for the EGF. 6.5 komi for Japanese rules events could be and was agreed now would be recommended. Gionata Soletti asked for clear rules for EGF commissions and nobody objected. Gionata asked for a vote on whether the EGF supports Olympic association for Go. It was pointed out that IGF applies for GAISF membership (Eric Puyt is working on this). In favour 18, accepted. Swedish motions: The 2006 congress had been discussed under point 12. Henric Bergsåker said that Sweden is satisfied with the information received about the IGF. He acknowledged improvements which have been made on the EGF web site as regards archives etc and asked for clarification of the collective e-mail addresses there. Martin Finke referred the questions to Zoran Mutabzija, who had left the meeting. 18. Any Other Business Gionata Soletti said that it was not funny to hear the Swedish comments about the Italian congress and said that some have felt hurt by them. Frank Janssen said that if there is one person hurting other people's feelings it is Gionata himself. Erwin Gerstorfer said that Austria wanted all members to put club contacts on their web site. Hans Kostka asked about sponsoring the books about European Go history by Franco Pratesi. which have just appeared. Martin Finke said that it was up to the Executive to consider it. Thomas Erker said Switzerland would like the candidates for office to be made known to the EGF members immediately as the candidatures are submitted, rather than just at the deadline for circulating the AGM agenda. Gionata Soletti said that the situation of Go is getting worse, that sponsoring is dropping and there are less Go players and less Go players at the congress. He asked for a vote of non-confidence against Tony Atkins. Henric Bergsåker objected that, according to the constitution, votes on important matters under Any Other Business can only take place if all participants agree. Frank Janssen disagreed with the resolution, commenting he had good responses despite the President’s personal difficulties. There was a vote on whether to allow a motion of non-confidence: in favour 7, against 10, abstentions 6, motion not allowed. The meeting was closed 00.20