The European Go Federation (EGF) and the Turkish Go Association (TGOD) are proud to introduce the inaugural EGF Go Development Summit. Launching at the 68th European Go Congress in Ankara, this summit will become a permanent, recurring platform dedicated to the intellectual, pedagogical, and structural advancement of our mind sport.
Our goal is to explore every aspect that contributes to the development of Go and its players. The Summit will host multidisciplinary discussions on a wide range of horizon-expanding topics, including cognitive development, game theory, artificial intelligence, geopolitics, education, club governance, and cultural diplomacy.
Going beyond traditional lecture formats, the Summit is designed to be highly interactive. The program will feature a dynamic blend of keynote speeches, traditional presentations, and moderated roundtable panels where multidisciplinary experts and the audience actively engage, debate, and brainstorm together to generate concrete, policy-oriented outcomes.
We are honored to host a diverse panel of distinguished experts:
Open Theme
We invite community members, academics, and professionals to share insights that will broaden our horizons. You do not need a formal academic paper to apply! If you have applied expertise in Go pedagogy, the cognitive development of players, game theory, club governance, AI's impact on Go, history, ethics, geopolitics, education, cultural diplomacy or any other field, we want to hear from you.
You can propose either:
Focus: Empowering the Women Go Player Population
While the Summit's presentations and panels cover all aspects of Go, our Call for Projects focuses on a specific, urgent theme: Equality, Participation, and Safe Spaces (with a focus on empowering women Go players).
In Go, the rules of the game are identical for everyone, and there are no biological barriers. However, guided by the strategic report of the TGOD Women's Commission and the academic framework established by Prof. Dr. Canan Koca Arıtan, we recognize that equality in rules does not automatically translate to de facto (actual) equality in participation.
The low retention rate of women players at beginner and mid-kyu levels is not due to a lack of capability or biological differences. Rather, it is a structural issue caused by "small but accumulating barriers" (such as the lack of visible role models, financial/time constraints, and the need for safer, more inclusive social environments).
We want to emphasize that providing targeted support for women players is not an act of discrimination against men, nor is it a condescending gesture towards women. In sports sociology, these initiatives are defined as legitimate "temporary special measures" aimed at achieving "equalizing justice" until true structural equality is reached. Importantly, supporting women does not narrow the space for male players. On the contrary, establishing safe, inclusive environments benefits all players and expands the entire Go ecosystem to make it stronger and more diverse.
With this scientific and ethical framework, we invite players, clubs, and educators to submit concrete projects aimed at: