The American Go Association (AGA) Board of Directors approved the AGA budget for fiscal 2014 at its meeting on July 7; the budget includes funds for a pro certification tournament to be completed by the end of 2013. The AGA will continue to look for new sponsors to replace Tygem, but will run this year’s tournament from reserves and from money earmarked for the AGA’s new professional system. In other actions, the Board approved the creation of a pilot program for AGA ratings of online games, which would parallel the ratings system now in place for in-person games. President Andy Okun will be pursuing implementation plans along with completion of plans to issue formal Rank Certificates to players who have demonstrated achievement at a particular rank level. The first such certificates will be awarded to top finishers in most brackets at the 2013 US Go Congress. Additionally, Bob Gilman and Royce Chen have been authorized to investigate the feasibility of bringing a Cuban player — or players — to the 2014 US Go Congress. The Board will assess options for fundraising and implementing such an effort after the committee reports back.
The 2013 German Championship wrapped up in Darmstadt on July 7. The first round to determine the 
Serbia: Lazar Manojlovic 5d defeated Dragan Dubakovic 3d at the 46th City Championship Finals in Kragujevac on July 7. Misa Alimpic 3d placed third. UK: At the Milton Keynes in Open University, Bruno Poltronieri 2d bested Toby Manning 2d while Michael Cockburn 1k came in third. Russia: The Under 20 Russian Championship finished July 2 in Saint Petersburg with Alexandr Vashurov 6d (left) in first, Stepan Popov 3d in second, and Grigorij Fionin 4d in third.