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U.S. Go Congress EJ Team Recognition

The American Go E-Journal’s comprehensive coverage of the recently-concluded annual U.S. Go Congress has become such a part of the fabric of the event that the extraordinary amount of work that goes into broadcasting dozens of top games, commentaries, reports and photos is now routine and taken for granted. Our work is highly visible, while the workers themselves are largely invisible. Which is how we want it: the focus should always be on the players and the game we all love so deeply. Click here for pro game commentaries (scroll down to Game Review) and here for final results in the NAIM, US Open and Strong Player’s Open. So it’s a real honor and pleasure for me to recognize here those individuals who contributed so much of their time, effort and talent to help bring this year’s U.S. Go Congress – as well as the first-ever Tygem Pro Tournament immediately preceding the Congress – to our global audience. First and foremost, deepest thanks, gratitude and kudos to the crack core team of Todd Heidenreich (E-Journal/Broadcast Coordinator), Steve Colburn (EJ IT/Website Coordinator/Video Feed) and Dennis Wheeler (EJ Broadcast Room Manager), without whom our coverage could not happen. They’re talented, dedicated, fun to hang out with, and they love bacon, too. Our lovely and unflappable KGS Admin team of Akane Negishi and Dan Short was joined this year by Mr. KGS himself, the inimitable William Shubert; we enjoyed having Bill on board and look forward to seeing some great new tweaks to the system soon! Karoline Burrall, the fierce but fun-loving TD for the US Open, NAIM and SPO, was a full partner with the EJ team, this year enabling us to post pairings sometimes as early as the night before, a great service for players as well as for the EJ team. Karoline was ably assisted by Assistant TDs Steve Burrall and Bob Bacon. Our game recording team was a wonderful mix of experienced hands, including the amazing Richard Dolen, indispensable Gordon Castanza and, doing double-duty, KGS admin Dan Short. Other returning recorders were Andrew Jackson who did wonderful work on Board 1, Myron Souris (moonlighting from his usual job as EJ Games Editor) and Dave Weimer. Newbies Patrick Allen, Calvin Clark, Pete Gousious, Greg Pongracz and Marshall Quander fit right into the team, especially Allen, who handled a couple of extraordinarily long games with aplomb. Todd Blatt was better than ever as our nimble-fingered Game Commentary Broadcaster, transcribing pro game commentaries live at the speed of light, and EJ photographer Phil Straus always managed to get an even better shot than we asked for. EJ Youth Editor Paul Barchilon managed our youth coverage while also running numerous youth events at the Congress; aspiring young go journalists should be sure to volunteer to help out next year. Better yet, get started now by emailing Paul c/o journal@usgo.org Paul’s EJ Youth Game Recording team included Justin Teng, Tom Bahun, and Yunxuan Li. Last but definitely not least are our Honorary EJ Team Members, 2012 Congress Directors Paul Celmer and Peter Armenia, who not only pulled together a memorable and fun Congress, but who made sure that the EJ team had whatever we needed to bring the Congress to you. Thanks again to each and every one of these terrific volunteers. And if you're interested in being on the team next year in Seattle, just drop us a note at journal@usgo.org! - Chris Garlock, EJ/Broadcast Managing Editor photo by Phil Straus & Lisa Garlock