4-5.08.1997, St.Petersburg, Russia

1. The Vice President Alexandr Nosovsky declared the General Assembly opened. Alexandr Nosovsky was appointed to be the chairman of the meeting.The agenda for the General Assembly was approved.

2.Peter Jonsson was elected for secretary of the meeting.

3.Election of three persons for the signing of the protocol: Norihiko Kawamura, Konstantin Nikonov and Aldis Reims.

4.Roll-call. The following persons had the right to vote.

Yoshimi Hayakawa Japan
Albert Pogosyan Armenia
Nikolai Ponomarenko Ukraine
Viktor Kaufman Russia
Felix Degtiar Byelorussia
Irene Einberg Estonia
Aldis Reims Latvia
Peter Jonsson Sweden
Na Wei China

5.Annual report from the President.

6. Annual report from the Treasurer and the Auditor.

7. Approval of the work of the Central Committee for the last two years.

8. The budget for the next year was approved with the exception for that the European Commission got 5000 SEK and that the Translation Commission got 1500 SEK for expences.The membership fees will be the same as before. 200 USD for founder members and 50 USD for others.

9. The following persons were elected for the Central Committee.

PRESIDENT Tommy Maltell
VICE PRESIDENT Yoshimi Hayakawa
VICE PRESIDENT Alexandr Nosovsky
GENERAL SECRETARY Peter Jonsson
TREASURER Stefan Karlsson
AUDITOR Lars B. Melin

10. The following commissions will work within RIF for the coming two years.

a) THE RULES COMMISSION. It should work with the playing rules and also investigate possibilities for new rules.

Chairman: Aldis Reims, Latvia.
Other members: Norihiko Kawamura, Japan
Kazuto Hasegawa, Japan
Yurij Tarannikov, Russia
Mikael Kozhin, Russia
Ando Meritee, Estonia
Arsen Avetisyan, Armenia
Sergei Varov, Armenia
Nikolai Ponomarenko, Ukraine

b) THE SPORTS COMMISSION. It should work with the organization of international tournaments and also recommend which of the tournaments who should be counted in the rating list.

Chairman: Konstantin Nikonov, Russia
Other members: Kazuto Hasegawa, Japan
Viktor Kaufman, Russia
Stefan Karlsson, Sweden
Na Wei, China
Arnis veidemanis, Latvia
Ants Soosõrv, Estonia
Albert Pogosyan, Armenia
Nikolai Ponomarenko, Ukraine

c) THE CORRESPONDENCE COMMISSION:It should investigate and decide eventual new rules for the next WC via e-mail.

Chairman: Norihiko Kawamura, Japan.
Other Members: Oleg Fedorkin, Russia
Yurij Tarannikov, Russia
Tommy Maltell, Sweden
Ando Meritee, Estonia
Aldis Reims, Latvia
Na Wei, China
Albert Pogosyan, Armenia
Vladimir Kolesnik, Ukraine
Rickard W. Rognlie, USA

d) THE QUALIFICATION COMMISSION. It will work with the rating list and make suggestions for the General Assembly in case of new rules.

Chairman: Bengt Asplund, Sweden
Other Members: Kazuto Hasegawa, Japan
Sergei Smirnov, Russia
Felix Degtiar, Byelorussia
Na Wei, China
Ants Soosõrv, Estonia
Artis Gaujens, Latvia
Nerses Grigorian, Armenia
Nikolai Ponomarenko, Ukraine

e) THE TRANSLATION COMMISSION. The task will be to try to translate Renju rules into each language of the connection men. If possible it will also translate the book "The Click Of Stones" into English.

Chairman: Na Wei, China
Other Members: Norio Nishizono, Japan
Alexandr Nosovsky, Russia
Ando Meritee, Estonia
Gatis Gurtskis, Latvia
Albert Pogosyan, Armenia
Oleg Mostovlansky, Byelorussia

f) THE EUROPE COMMISSION. It will try to start Renju activities in new countries and also help other european "not established countries" to develop Renju activities.

Chairman: Peter Jonsson, Sweden
Other Members: Alexandr Nosovsky, Russia
Ants Soosõrv, Estonia
Albert Pogosyan, Armenia
Nikolai Ponomarenko, Ukraine

g) THE REFEREE COMMISSION: It will see that a system for referee categories will be set up. National federations should apply for candidates for international referees. In future all international championships must have an appointed international referee. The chairman should be the referee of the WC via e-mail and when difficult problems occure he should ask the commission for help.

Chairman: Alexei Skuridin, Russia
Other members: Hiroyuki Tatsutomi, Japan
Pavel Salnikov, Russia
Felix Degtiar, Byelorussia
Ants Soosõrv, Estonia
Artis Gaujens, Latvia
Nikolai Ponomarenko, Ukraine
Albert Pogosyan, Armenia

h) THE YOUTH COMMISSION. It should work with youth activities.

Chairman: Alexei Skuridin, Russia
Other members: Hiroyuki Tatsutomi, Japan
Anders Bertilsson, Sweden
Na Wei, China
Ants Soosõrv, Estonia
Gurgen Karapetyan, Armenia
Valentin Uspensky, Ukraine

11. The proposal for new rating rules was approved.

Summary: All new players must play at least ten games against players who have rating . All new players must also get at least three points in those games. Games with the minimum time 30 min can be used for rating calculation. All tournaments since Aug 1988 will be recalculated. The calculation of the rating list will be made after each single tournament and this list should be included in RIF:s web page. RIF members will recieve this list three times a year.

12. Decisions about future RIF Championships:

a) World Championship 1999 CHINA

b) World Championship 2001 JAPAN

c) World Team Championship 1998 ARMENIA

d) World Youth Championship 1998 CHINA

( July 26 - Aug 1)

e) European Championship 1998 ESTONIA

13. From the start by the Qualification Tournament of 2001 all the top 20 players in RIF:s International Ratinglist by May 1 2001 are allowed to take part in this tournament. Those players, however must take part in at least 10 rated games for the period of May 1 2000 to April 30 2001.

14. From the start by 1998 Uzbekistan players can take part in the European Championship.

15. Mr Na Wei informed about Youth Championship in 1998. All participants and their coaches will have free food, lodging and transport within China. In connection with this tornament it will be a open friendship tournament.

16. The Chairman declared the General assembly closed.

Chairman
Alexandr Nosovsky

Norihiko Kawamura

Konstantin Nikonov

Aldis Reims

Peter Jonsson
Secretary