Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (1819-1874) was the first president of the Cuban Republic in Arms, considered the Founding Father of Cuba, man of impeccable manners and high personal culture acquired during his studies in Barcelona and subsequent tour through Europe. This Cuban patriot made efforts of inestimable value for the development of chess in colonial Cuba. He translated from French to Spanish, “The Laws of Chess”, a book by a Frenchman Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, published in the newspaper “The Editor” in October 1855.

José Martí (1853-1895), referred to as the “Apostle of Cuban Independence” is considered by Rubén Darío as “The Master”, by Alfonso Reyes as “The Supreme Literary Man”, by Gabriela Mistral as “the purest man of the human race” and Ezequiel Martínez Estrada considered him as, not only “a hero”, but also “a saint, wise man and martyr.”

José Martí learnt chess, presumably, in his childhood and later practised it during his stay in Spain. A definite evidence of his passion for chess was documented during his stay in Mexico, where he arrived in 1875 and had a chance to meet other prominent Cubans. Among them there was Andrés Clemente Vázquez, a famous Cuban chess player, who together with Marqués Sterling, were close friends of José Martí, and apart from literary circles they used to meet in game rooms, where they played chess.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentinian-Cuban (1928-1967), leader of the Cuban revolution that arouses great passions in public opinion, both for and against him. He has become a symbol of global significance. Che learnt how to play chess when he was just 10 years old and would have never stopped practising it.

His high responsibilities within the Cuban government since 1959 influenced the official support for this mind sport. His opinion was decisive in the matter of participation of the Cuban delegation in XIV World Chess Olympiad in Leipzig. He also inaugurated the First Chess Tournament by teams among state agencies in 1961, among other activities he led and supported. When referring to the game of skill, he said “(…) the countries that have large teams of chess players, also march to lead the world in the most important areas (…)”.

FIDE (World Chess Federation; an acronym for its French name is “Fédération Internationale des Échecs”), in recognition of his contribution to the development of Cuban and Latin American chess, included him in its Golden Book and named him “The Grand Knight of FIDE”.