Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on his family's sugar plantation near Birán, in Cuba’s Oriente province. He enrolled at the University of Havana Law School in 1945 and after graduating, he opened a private law practice in Havana in 1950. His intention of running for the Cuban Parliament in 1952 as a member of the front-running progressive albeit anti-communist Partido Ortodoxo was disrupted when Fulgencio Batista seized power after an eight-year absence. Following this, Castro organised a rebellion which was ultimately successful in 1959, when Batista fled Cuba. He declared a socialist state in 1961 and remained the Cuban leader until 18 February 2008, a rule lasting 47 years, stepping down in favour of his brother Raúl.

The inaugural Capablanca Memorial Tournament was held in 1951, with the second being cut short in 1952 by Batista’s coup. It was recommenced in 1962 under the auspices of Castro and chess enthusiast Ernesto Ché Guevara, whom Ludek Pachman, in his memoirs considered to be a "first-rank chessplayer." It has remained a regular feature of the chess calendar, one of the most notable being the 1965 event in which Robert James Fischer participated via telex, although not before receiving an assurance from Castro that the he would cease making political capital out of his participation. Castro was on the organizing committee of the 17th Chess Olympiad that was held in Havana in 1966; the result reflected many of the Summer Olympic results wherein the USSR and the USA came first and second.

In December 2002, Cuba hosted a massive chess tournament at the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana during which about 11,000 amateurs played 550 chess masters in a simultaneous exhibition breaking the world record of 10,007 games set previously in the Zocalo Plaza, in Mexico City. Castro participated, playing against the President of the Cuban Chess Federation GM Silvino Garcia Martinez.

Fidel Castro passed away in Havana on 26 November 2016.