Attendance

• Noel Mitchell
• Arthur Cater
• Olivier Deme
• Aidan Walsh
• Jordi Jane-Cardo
• Thomas Palud
• Carol Doyle

General

• Attendance to weekly meetings could be improved. The committee suggested that Wednesdays should be aimed at welcoming newcomers to the club. This should be advertised on the IGA website.
• The club would like to promote one international tournament by sending a delegation of IGA members to participate in the event. The IGA will try to provide some funds to finance at least partially the trip and accommodation. Notice of this event should be published on the IGA website.
• The IGA should try to inform people about the game of go by participating in appropriate Irish events, such as the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire, Gaelcon convention, etc.
• The club could try to organize some once-off outdoor tournaments during the warm season to attract people’s interest into the game.
• Fliers introducing the game of go and Irish go club regular meetings should be produced and available for the general public.
• The club should explain on the website the advantages of being an IGA member, such as the possibility to compete to represent Ireland at major international tournaments in Japan and Korea. The meeting participants discussed about the possibility to send newsletters to IGA members, and/or offer a game commentary service.
• The committee has decided to monitor the situation regarding the sale of the Pembroke due to take place sometime in 2007.

Financial Report

• Arthur gave a summary of the IGA accountancy for the 2005-2006 period.
• The IGA currently counts 18 members who payed a 10 Euro membership fee. It has been agreed that the club should try to find new members as the current number of members is very low.
• The current bank account balance is 638.21 Euro.
• A detailed accountancy summary is available to IGA members on demand.
• The committee voted to increase the membership fee from 10 Euro to 20 Euro per year, while the fee will remain to 10 Euro per year for students and unemployed. It has been agreed that the club should try to explain what this money will be used for: tournaments, fliers, etc.
• IGA membership will run for the duration of one calendar year, that is from the 1st of January till the 31st of December of that year.

Irish Open 2007

• The committee would like to prepare the next Irish Open as soon as possible in order to improve the attendance from last year. Several tasks have been identified including booking accommodation, tournament venue and advertising the event on the IGA website as soon as possible. The club will also rely on volunteers to enter into contact with European clubs and try to attract as many people as possible to this event. This task will be divided into geographic areas such as France/Belgium/Switzerland, Spain, UK/Ireland, etc.

Top 8 Tournament

• The AGM participants discussed about ways to limit the top 8 tournament in time, allowing for a longer qualification period.
• The Top 8 Tournament session will be divided into 3 time periods: an invitation to the qualifiers period, the qualification tournament and the top 8 tournament itself.
• The existing Top 8 rules remain unchanged and the best 4 players of the tournament will automatically qualify for the following year.
• The 4 best players of the qualification tournament will qualify to play the top 8 tournament.
• The qualification tournament will be preceded by a period during which players are invited to enter the qualifiers.
• It has been agreed that time limits should be enforced. Games not finished by the end of the tournament/qualifiers will be considered lost for both players.
• Because of the fact that the 2006 TOP 8 tournament is running late, special dates had to be decided for the 2006-2007 tournament.
• The following dates have been approved for the 2006-2007 tournament:
  • Invitation to Top 8 Qualifiers Period: now -> 31st of October 2006
  • Top 8 Qualifications: 1st of November till 31st of December 2006
  • Top 8 Tournament: 1st of January -> 31st of May 2006
• For 2007-2008 onwards:
  • Invitation to Top 8 Qualifiers Period: Until 31st of July
  • Top 8 Qualifications: 1st of September till 30th of September
  • Top 8 Tournament: 1st of October till 14th of February.
• A player must apply to enter the qualification stages before the end of the invitation period.
• The Top 8 Qualifications stage rules haven’t been decided yet and the committee will give priority to decide on these rules as soon as possible.
• Top 8 games can be played online as long as both players agree to play this way. Should one player refuse to play on the Internet, the game must be played face to face.

Becks Tournaments

• Arthur submitted proposal to start the Becks sponsored tournament around the end of October.
• The tournament should run over 5 weeks and will be completed by the end of November.
• The event will follow the general guidelines of a double knockout tournament.
• Becks will provide cup and engraving for the winner.
• The IGA should come up with publicity material to advertise the tournament.
• The tournament will be subject to an entry fee of 10 Euro.
• The event will also be the opportunity to introduce beginners to the game of go and Olivier will provide teaching sessions on 9×9 boards.
• Press releases should be produced if possible.

Irish KGS Open Tournament

• Jordi suggested the possibility to hold an Open tournament on KGS and will investigate the server capabilities along with rules, terms and conditions.

Actions

1. Add a permanent section to the IGA website advertising that the club will introduce new people to the game of go every Wednesday evening in the Pembroke.
2. Decide which international event will be promoted by the IGA by sending a small delegation. Publish the result of this decision on the IGA website.
3. Investigate which Irish fairs and festivals could be an opportunity to promote the game of go in Ireland. Find out about cost, terms and conditions.
4. Olivier will produce a draft for a flier introducing the game of go and where/when go can be played in Ireland.
5. Investigate the possibility to produce an IGA newsletter at regular intervals.
6. Investigate the possibility to provide game reviews to IGA members.
7. Organize venue and accommodation for Irish Open 2007
8. Find volunteers to contact other European/Irish go clubs and invite players to enter the Irish Open 2007.
9. Add a permanent section to the IGA website to promote the Irish Open 2007 and publish application form online.
10. Define the rules of the Top 8 qualifiers and publish these rules and dates on the IGA website.
11. Define rules for the Becks tournament and publish these rules along with tournament dates on the IGA website.
12. Produce press release and advertising material for the Becks tournament.
13. Jordi to investigate the possibility to run an Irish Open tournament on KGS.