The Team
The Hebsacker Verlag is a civil law partnership (GbR) and was founded in 2002 by the two current owners Steffi Hebsacker and Tobias Berben with the aim of promoting the spread of the game of Go in Germany. The impulse to found a game and book publishing house resulted from the fact that Ravensburger Spieleverlag had stopped the production of inexpensive Go games after many years. Replacements were needed to be able to offer an affordable Go game to children and young people in particular. Steffi Hebsacker therefore designed a Go game made of paper and cardboard and implemented its production with the support of the German Go-Bund e. V. Almost simultaneously, Tobias Berben realized the reprint of the classic Go book "Go. Die Mitte des Himmels" by Micheal Koulen, which was published in three editions by DuMont Verlag in Cologne, but never reprinted. Together they founded the joint publishing house as a framework for their projects.
It soon became clear that the publishing house would have to set up its own website and web store. In the spring of 2003, the web store was expanded to include a comprehensive range of Go game material and books. To date, a large number of different projects and activities have followed, as well as a continuous expansion of the web store with its currently over 450 products.
To the website of the publishing house ...
Steffi Hebsacker
... got to know the game of Go in 1988 and today plays 5-kyu.
In 2000 she became German Pairs Go Vice Champion together with Tobias Berben and represented Germany at the Pairs Go World Championship in Japan in 1998 and 2003. Since 2001 she has been the chairperson of the Go-Landesverband Hamburg, since 2008 she has been in charge of the secretariat for advertising material in the German Go-Bund. In 2003 she played a major role in the founding of the Hans Pietsch Memorial, the German School Go Team Championship.
Tobias Berben
... got to know the Go game in 1985 and today plays 3-dan.
In 1995 he became German Pair-Go-Champion, in 2000 together with Steffi Hebsacker German Pair-Go Vice-Champion and in 2004 German Blitz-Go-Champion. In 1995 and 2003 he participated in the Pair-Go World Championship in Japan. In 2008 he was a member of the German team at the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, China, and represented Germany in the men's singles. With the team "Hamburg Hebsacker" he won the Go-Bundesliga in 2006, 2011, 2012 and 2016, achieved second place in 2008 and 2010 and third place in 2007, 2009 and 2013. From 1999 to 2015 he was in charge of the website of the German Go-Bund, and since 2004 he has been the responsible editor of the German Go Journal.