Hane Naoki
Hane Naoki (羽根直樹), born 14 August 1976, is the current Honinbo and a former holder of the Kisei and Tengen titles. He is the son of Hane Yasumasa.
By winning an Oteai game on 25 July 2002, Hane Naoki gained promotion to 9-dan, and also set a new record for fastest promotion to 9-dan at the Nihon Ki-in: 11 years and 3 months.
He's written a book on his style recently. It's thick and slow called The Way of Creating a Thick and Strong Game; he plays catch up at the end. His rivalry with Takao Shinji is worth looking at.
Titles
- Winner of the 26th Shin Ei (1996)
- Winner of the 27th Tengen title (2001)
- Winner of the 28th Tengen title (2002)
- Winner of the 29th Tengen title (2003)
- Winner of the 28th Kisei title (2004)
- Winner of the 11th Agon Cup (2004)
- Winner of the 29th Kisei title (2005)
- Winner of the 53th NHK (2006)
- Winner of the 63rd Honinbo (2008)
- Winner of Okan Tournament in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008
- Winner of the 28th NEC Cup (2009-03-07).
- Winner of 16 titles, plus Tengen-Tianyuan Match in 2002, against Huang Yizhong.