Board Members In Attendance
Dave Bresnick
Tamas Erdos
Laura King
Claire Hernandez
Nathanael Kozinski
Jai Srivasta
Bichen Wang
Harrison Corp
Jenn Barr
Luke Morgan
Steve Augustin
Updates for WRC 2028 via Dave Bresnick
WRPM is going to be building rankings and WRL
The ARA qualification system will be honored
My expectation is that there will be around 40 seats for the US
About 8 of those seats to the ARA qualification system
8 reserved for WRPM
The rest is through WRL
Dave will detach from ARA in the future and resigning from ARA
Still available as WRC representative
Laura remains contact for WRL and future WRC contacts
The ARA system will be honored
If you wish to continue down this path, feel free.
Laura has a 2027 schedule for WRL as the primary way to qualify for WRC
We will have some direct qualifier events, too
Claire: This is the new process for 2026? The website says we already created the qualification cycle
Nate: question around international qualification.
All of Europe is handled with EMA
Some other countries
USPML distributes WRC seats
There should be some WRPM seats for region locked
Not sure what EMA does
Does WRC want to push towards pro only?
Dave is pushing towards no, but there are many people involved
Feels like changing the rules mid season.
Are other countries going through this?
Was the seat allocation decided by Dave?
Yes
Folks might wanted to have known earlier
This entire group is a volunteer basis
Why would you not tell us earlier?
Let’s make an american system that works for america
Working Group Updates
2028 WRC Qualification Cycle
See above
Community engagement
Send pics
Patience from Laura for family health issues
2027 WRL finals to be the same day as Europe’s
Tech
Jai fixed the qualification points
Adding club flow is the next step
We added a bunch of new clubs!
Communications
The tournament qualifications spreadsheet updated up to Toronto 2026
Education
Guide for folks to play in Japan
Rules and judging
Steve moved and is getting still in a busy period
2 Seats available for the September ARA board meeting
IORMC
1st qualifier tournament not too long ago
Shoutout to Edwin who has run these tournaments (and max who did it last year)
It’s hard to run it on tenhou! But it went really well, and the play was fantastic
Next session is the 30th
You do need to join 3 of the qualifiers, and you need to play at least 3, so there’s still time to join
Professional Organizations
Saikouisen
Saikouisen leagues are ongoing, new East Coast league
Seiryusen (3 rulesets) tournament in October
Junhan is playing in the Saikouisen Shinjinousen (rookie cup) in japan in 3 weeks
WRPM
New website for World Riichi Pros
It’s live at worldriichi.pro and will have more stuff soon!
Applications for the pro exam will open in September with the test in October
ARML
Everything going well, upcoming Fall season
Open Discussion
Event Announcements/Reminders
Closed Session
Certified a tournament
Next meeting September 28th
Discussion about having extra checks and requirements for first time tournaments to be certified for ARAbux
Discussion about system to certify judges and potential timeline for it
Discussion about observer reports
Discussion about Transition Plan regarding Dave Bresnick
Discussion and statement regarding the news shared tonight regarding the 2028 USA seat allocation