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Behind the Scenes at the US Go Congress: Matthew Hershberger

One of the workers behind the scenes at this year's US Go Congress is US Open and US Open Masters Tournament Director Matthew Hershberger. Often working until the wee hours of the morning to prepare the next day's pairings and then working through the afternoons to pair the US Open Masters tournament that evening, Hershberger pairs over 200 games per day. He doesn't remember when he first learned about go, since there were a lot of strategy games around his house growing up. Then he discovered Hikaru No Go. "It was a bit of a feedback loop," Matthew says, "I started reading Hikaru No Go because I was interested in go, then that made me realize that I could actually learn and play online." His first Go Congress was the European Go Congress in Finland, and then he ran his own Congress in 2014 in New York City. He enjoys tournament play the best because of the ability to completely focus on go without distraction. This led him to get some experience running local tournaments, and now a local in Boston himself, he stepped up to the plate when the 2016 Boston team was looking for a US Open director. His calm and congenial manner mask how much work he successfully completes on a day to day basis here at Go Congress, managing over 400 go players in competition for some of the US Go community's top prizes. - Karoline Li, Congress Tournament Liaison; photo: Hershberger mentally pairing the next round; photo by Chris Garlock