by Thomas Hsiang, special correspondent to the E-JournalThe 38th World Amateur Go Championship is being held at the five-star Guiyang Sheraton Hotel in downtown Guiyang, China. On June 3, the first day, the International Go Federation held its annual Board and General Assembly meetings. A number of important announcements were made by Chairman Chang Zhenming, president and chairman of CITIC 
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Securities, Inc:- The next three WAGC’s will be held in Tokyo May 2-9, 2018; in Matsue City of the Shimane Perfecture in 2019; and in Vladevostok, Russia, in 2020. Maxim Volkov, president of Russian Go Federation, was on hand to celebrate the announcement.
- IGF will host the “CITIC Securities Cup” – the First International Artificial Intelligence Go Open – on August 16-17, 2017, in the City of Ordos of Inner Mongolia, China. 16 programs will be entered into the competition from over the world. Generous prizes will be provided.
- IGF offers a $20,000 grant to support the First Latin America Go Congress, to be held October 12-16, 2017 in Cancun, Mexico.
- The Second IMSA Elite Mind Games, participated by IGF, will be held December 8-16, 2017 in Huai’an City, China. This event will continue at least through 2019.
- The 2017 Pair Go World Cup will be held August 7-10, 2017 in Tokyo.
- A new member, the Republic of Georgia, was admitted and is now the 77th member of IGF.
Mr. Hiroaki Dan, chairman of Nihon Kiin and vice president of IGF, made the proposal for IGF to take on surveying and building up go instructional materials for schools. The proposal was approved unanimously by the Board and will become a priority for IGF in the next few years. Chairman Chang made the following declaration on behalf of IGF: “In recognition of the benefit of Go in the development of intelligence and character of youths, IGF will promote Go education in schools by surveying its members for existing Go educational materials worldwide, followed by sponsoring studies that consolidate these materials to build systematic educational content and pedagogy. We welcome active participation from IGF members.”
Mr. Chang also called on IGF to take up studies to work toward a universal ruleset and to establish a universal rating system.
After the General Assembly, the traditional ceremony to draw pairing was held. In the evening, a lavish dinner banquet concluded the busy day. Tomorrow the first two rounds of competition will be held.
