Otake Hideo

Otake Hideo (大竹 英雄, b. 12 May 1942 in Kitakyushu, Japan. Retired 15 Dec 2021) is a Japanese retired professional 9-dan of the Nihon Kiin. He was one of the strongest players from the late 1960s through the mid 90s, winning over 40-titles; and was part of the first generation of successful Kitani Dojo graduates (including Ishida Yoshio and Kato Masao). He became Honorary Gosei for winning the Gosei title five consecutive years, and is the author of several popular books, including Opening Theory Made Easy.

Table of contents International teaching and play Style Rank Promotion Titles Trivia Books Pupils English Commentaries Pictures Notes

International teaching and play

Otake visited Europe several times for both teaching tours and title matches. The first title match played in Europe was his Honinbo match with Takemiya Masaki, opening in Paris, in May 1988. The game was featured on front page of Go Moon Iss. 0, which appeared two days later during the Amsterdam International tournament. During the summer of 1988 he taught at the EGC in Hamburg.

Style

Kageyama Toshiro described Otake as a "cutthroat" who struck fear into the hearts of lesser pros (Kage's Secret Chronicles of Handicap Go). But later on, Otake developed a reputation as having a very ‘proper’ style, liking honte moves.

Otake plays a come-from-behind style. He does so at a solid pace which conceals fierce fighting that could reflect itself above the surface at any time. In the opening his stones don't come into contact, then follows an uneventful middle game. But where spectators can't see he's actually fighting fiercely. And before the opponent realizes it he or she is at the point of being shoved out of the game. His style is complemented by solid moves and a variety in his openings.^[1]

Psychologically, Otake has a surprisingly fragile side for a top tourament player. When he makes a big oversight he becomes disgusted with himself and loses the will to fight on. This lack of winning 'lost' games is one of his greatest weaknesses. In some sense one gets the impression that winning itself is not enough for Otake, but rather playing a beautiful game is his ultimate motivation.^[2] His artistic approach to Go is often refered to as Otake-bigaku (大竹美学: Otake esthetics).

Rank Promotion

• 1956: 1d
• 1957: 2d
• 1958: 3d
• 1959: 4d
• 1961: 5d
• 1963: 6d
• 1965: 7d
• 1967: 8d
• 1970: 9d

Titles

• 1957: 2nd Hayago tournament?
• 1965: 9th Prime Minister's Cup
• 1967: 6th Nihon Kiin Daiichi-i
• 1968: 15th NHK Cup
• 1969: 8th Judan
• 1968: 7th Nihon Kiin Daiichi-i
• 1970: 1st Zen Nihon Daiichi-i
• 1971: 18th NHK Cup
• 1971: 2nd Zen Nihon Daiichi-i
• 1973: 6th Hayago Senshuken
• 1973: 20th NHK Cup
• 1973: 3rd Zen Nihon Daiichi-i
• 1974: 4th Zen Nihon Daiichi-i
• 1975: 22nd NHK Cup
• 1975; 14th Old Meijin
• 1975: 23rd Oza
• 1975: 5th Zen Nihon Daiichi-i
• 1976: 9th Hayago Senshuken
• 1976; 1st Meijin
• 1978: 3rd Gosei
• 1978; 3rd Meijin
• 1979; 4th Meijin
• 1980: 5th Gosei
• 1980: 18th Judan
• 1981: 6th Gosei
• 1981: 19th Judan
• 1981: 3rd Kakusei
• 1982: 7th Gosei
• 1983: 8th Gosei
• 1983: 5th Kakusei
• 1984: 9th Gosei
• 1984: 6th Kakusei
• 1985: 10th Gosei
• 1987: 9th Kakusei
• 1987: 6th NEC Cup
• 1988: 10th Kakusei
• 1989: 2nd IBM Hayago Open Championship
• 1989: 8th NEC Cup
• 1992: 5th Fujitsu Cup
• 1992: 2nd Ryusei Tournament
• 1993: 31st Judan
• 1994: 6th Asian TV Cup
• 1994: 32nd Judan
• 1994: 41st NHK Cup
• 1996: 15th NEC Cup

Trivia

He played against Takemiya Masaki at the 44. World Amateur Go Championship, won by Otake Hideo.

Books

• Opening Theory Made Easy
• Otake's Secrets of Strategy

Pupils

• Nishimura Keiji

English Commentaries

Go World has an extraordinary number of commented Otake games. A complete list is as follows:

Pictures

kitani minoru otake hideo (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

otake hideo go seigen meijin 1975 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

otake hideo cho chikun (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

nie weiping otake hideo (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

otake hideo 2004 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

otake hideo 2021 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

otake hideo rin kaiho chikurin duo (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

Notes

[1] Tournament Go 1992 (1996) by John Power, pp. 165, 179, 184.

[2] Go World Iss. 34, p. 32.