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The Protocol of Extra General Assembly 2008

May 3, 2008, Helsinki, Finland

1. Peter Jonsson, RIF President, opened the Extra General Assembly.

2. Election of the Chairman of the Extra General Assembly.
Decision: Peter Jonsson was elected.

3. Election of the Secretary for the Extra General Assembly.
Decision: Stefan Karlsson was elected.

4. Election of three persons who should check the protocol.
Decision: Following persons were elected:
Yoshihiro Iio
Ants Soosõrv
Ales Rybka

5. Election of three scrutineers who should count the votes, if necessary.
Decision: Same persons as were elected in point 4.

6. Approval of the agenda.
Finland Renju Federation suggested that Veto rights for founder members will be taken away. The suggestion affects the statutes and came in too late according to rules. After a short discussion, it was decided that this item will not be decided on this Extra General Assembly.
Decision: The agenda was approved with the following additions, which will be covered in point 12, Other items:
Estonian Renju Federation suggested that a commission is set up for promoting renju in the world. For instance taking contact with sponsors etc.
Chinese Renju Federation suggested to decide organizer for next Team World Championship.

7. Roll call.
The following RIF members were present and represented by the following persons:
China: Chen Wei
Czech Republic: Ales Rybka
Estonia: Ants Soosõrv
Finland: Jussi Ikonen
Japan: Yoshihiro Iio
Russia: Pavel Salnikov
Sweden: Peter Jonsson

8. Adoption of new members, if any. The new members do have the right to vote at the Extra General Assembly from now on.
There were no new members to adopt.

9. Reports from the President, the Treasurer and the Commissions.
The President and Treasurer have their main reports on ordinary General Assemblies that are held every second year (odd years). However, Sports Commission had an issue to address.
Stefan Karlsson, chairman of Sports Commission, explained that there is a work in progress regarding new enhanced tournament rules for international championships. Sports Commission expects to be ready with the new document within short, and therefore asked the Extra General Assembly if rights can be given to Central Committee to approve the document when ready. Otherwise we have to wait for next General Assembly to have new valid tournament rules.
Decision: New Tournament Rules can be decided and sanctioned by Central Committee.

10. Proposal from the President regarding opening rules:
A trial period is set up from May 3 2008 to September 1 2012. At the General Assembly 2012 it will be decided if RIF can choose one opening rule or to continue with another trial period.
A set of opening rules, called certified rules, is introduced by RIF. The certified rules can be used in all kind of tournaments (for World Championships it is special regulations) and all games played by the certified rules can be counted on the RIF rating list.
The certified rules in alphabetical order are: Soosõrv, Taraguchi and Yamaguchi. The full explanation of these opening rules are shown in appendixes A-C.
For all RIF World Championships the Yamaguchi opening rule should be used. It means WC 2009 and WC 2011, TWC 2010 and 2012.
For the Asian Championship, the Asian Commission can decide what opening rule that may be used.
For the European Championship, the European Commission can decide what opening rule that may be used.
For the World e-mail Championship, the Correspondence Commission can decide what opening rule that may be used.
For the World Youth Championship and the European Youth Championship the Youth Commission can decide what opening rule that may be used.
The rejection system (see appendix D) can be used if the organizers prefer that.
Decision: Above suggestion was approved as stated.

11. Gomoku Commission about their work.
Ants Soosõrv, chairman of the Gomoku Commission, explained about the work performed. One important issue is what opening rule to use.
Ales Rybka has agreed to organize Gomoku World Championship (GWC) when Renju World Championship is held in Czech Republic in 2009.
Decision: Regulations for GWC should be decided by Central Committee latest the 30th of June 2008.

12. Other items.
a) Estonian Renju Federation suggested that a commission is set up for promoting renju in the world. For instance taking contact with sponsors etc.
Decision: PR-group to be set up with Sander Sulane, Estonia, as chairman.
b) Chinese Renju Federation suggested to decide organizer for next Team World Championship.
Decision: Central Committee got the task to hold procedure for applications to organize Team World Championship 2010. Applications from organizers are to be sent to Central Committee latest the 30th of September 2008.
c) Same question as in 12 b came up for European Youth Championship 2009.
Decision: Central Committee (CC) got the task to hold procedure for applications to organize European Youth Championship 2009. Applications from organizers are to be sent to Central Committee latest the 30th of September 2008.
d) Dimitry Epifanov, chairman of Correspondence Commission, explained about some issues regarding e-mail World Championship:
deeper security measures can be introduced to know who is playing problem of opening rules

13. Peter Jonsson closed the Extra General Assembly.

Stefan Karlsson Peter Jonsson
Secretary Chairman

Checking of the protocol:
Yoshihiro Iio Ales Rybka Ants Soosõrv

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Appendix A – Soosõrv opening rule

- The first player puts one of the 26 openings.
- The other player has the right to swap.
- The white player puts the 4th move anywhere on board and declares whether there will be 1, 2, 3 or 4 fifth moves offered in the game.
- The other player has a right to swap.
- The black player puts as many 5th moves on the board as it was declared before.The fifth moves can not be symmetrical.
- The white player chooses one 5th from these offerings and plays the 6th move.
After that the opening stage is over and the game continues normally by renju rules.

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Appendix B – Taraguchi opening rule

- The black player puts the first move in the centre of the board
- The other player has the right to swap.
- The white player will put the 2nd move within 3x3 central square.
- The other player has the right to swap.
- The black player will put the 3rd move within 5x5 central square.
- The other player has the right to swap.
- The white player will put the 4th move within 7x7 central square.
Then choice 1 (after the 4th move):
- The other player has the right to swap.
- The black player will put the 5th move within 9x9 central square.
- The other player has the right to swap.
- The white player plays the 6th move anywhere on board.
The choice 2 (after the 4th move):
- The black player puts five 5th moves anywhere on board. The fifth moves can not be symmetrical.
- The white player chooses one of the offered 5th moves and plays the 6th move anywhere on board.
After that the the opening stage is over and the game continues normally by renju rules.

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Appendix C - Yamaguchi opening rule

- The first player puts one of the 26 openings and declares how many 5th moves will be offered in that game.
- The next player has the right to swap.
- The white player puts the 4th move anywhere on board.
- The black player puts as many 5th moves on the board as it was declared before. The fifth moves can not be symmetrical.
- The white player chooses one 5th from these offerings and plays the 6th move.
After that the opening stage is over and the game continues normally by renju rules.

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Appendix D – rejection system

The organizer of a tournament can use the system with the rejections of opening rules that include three sets of opening rules, one of which must be the old opening rule of RIF and two other must be opening rules certified by RIF. The system with the rejections of opening rules means that before the start of a game the player number one declines one of the three sets of opening rules, the player number two declines one of two remained sets of opening rules, and the game begins by the only remained set of opening rules.