Born Artur Darkowski, his father was of Polish [1] and his mother of Norwegian ancestry[2] (Edward Winter has quoted a mistaken statement with Dake's name on a list of chess players with Jewish roots[3]), who immigrated to America before World War I.
In 1927 he returned to high school in Oregon and learned chess from a Russian immigrant living in a local YMCA.
When US teams won four consecutive Chess Olympiads in 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1937, Dake who played in 1931–1935 was one of their major members, along with Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Reuben Fine, Israel Horowitz, and Abraham Kupchik, winning two individual medals: silver (1933) and gold (1935).
During the worldwide depression they moved back to Portland, where Dake had a career with the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles for more than 30 years.
Except for the USA - Yugoslavia match Hollywood 1952, the USA - USSR Match, and various minor local events in the Pacific Northwest, Dake apparently played little serious competitive chess for 37 years, from the 1938 United States Championship until he unexpectedly showed up to play in Lone Pine 1975.
In the 1987 US Open, held at Portland, Oregon, Dake's home town, he scored 8-4 (at the age of 77).
Dake spent his last night playing blackjack in the Sands Regency Casino in Reno Nevada.
[8] Casey Bush wrote the book Grandmaster from Oregon on Dake's chess career and life.