Che(ss) Guevara–The Legend At The Chessboard
Preface
The idea for this story came by chance, from a play on words. Creating the blog, however, required a fair amount of research. The biographical sources are well described in the bibliography.
The article is about Cuba, a magical land, almost sacred to the game of chess and the birthplace of perhaps the greatest of its masters: José Raúl Capablanca.
However, the article isn't about him, but rather Ernesto Che Guevara.
“Che,” through his life and death, became a legend that carries a universal and at the same time controversial message.
Che Guevara was a great lover of chess.
We'll tell his personal, political, and chess story. The latter is full of exciting surprises.
Enjoy the read, friends.
Che(ss) Guevara–The Legend At The Chessboard
Tablet of contents
- Encounters, Activity, Tournaments
Cuba, a fantastic land. Much more than a tropical island—sunny, mysterious, and fascinating.
It gave birth to great men—my first thought goes to José Raúl Capablanca. Deeds of love and blood have taken place there. And it has been the scene of ideological and material clashes.
Where spirits burn in the search for beauty and harmony, there thought reigns supreme, and the game of chess shines in the foreground.
I will talk about the Cuban Revolution, its protagonists, and in particular about Ernesto Che Guevara, whose encounter with Cuba and with chess would shape his destiny.
It will be a gripping read. The topic is original and, I am sure, you will like it.
Let’s begin.
In March 1952, Colonel Batista, already president of Cuba for years, lost the latest elections. At the head of the national army, he decided to carry out a coup d’état and overthrow the democratically elected government of Carlos Prío Socarrás.
Batista had been intimately tied to underworld for years. Allied with gangsters from the United States (Lucky Luciano and Lansky), he turned Cuba in the 1930s into a sort of “Las Vegas of the tropics,” enriching the few at the expense of the community.
The fuse that ignited the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara naturally lay in the serious economic and social problems linked to the dictator’s mismanagement of power. The worsening of trade terms with the U.S. (low price for sugarcane) and the outbreak of the Second World War made things worse.
Batista nevertheless proved a good ally to the Americans: he declared war on Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Japanese Empire; he granted new bases on the island to the U.S. Navy to fight German submarines; he expelled the diplomats of Francoist Spain from Cuba.
Reality is always more complex than one might paint it.
Fidel Castro, a young lawyer and political activist, a parliamentary candidate in the elections annulled by the coup, denounced this violation of the Constitution in court. He received no response and embarked on the path of revolution.
A first revolutionary attempt in July 1953 failed, and Fidel Castro was arrested. The ensuing trial went down in history for Fidel the lawyer’s passionate self-defense and his famous closing: “History will absolve me.” The rebel leader was instead sentenced to 15 years.
After less than two years in prison, in May 1955, Fidel Castro was released thanks to an amnesty. He founded the 26th of July Movement (M26), which was immediately deemed illegal. Fidel went into voluntary exile in the USA and in Mexico, where he met a young Argentine doctor, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, a revolutionary idealist who became so passionate about the Cuban cause that he immediately joined the revolutionary movement.
They organized guerrilla warfare on the island, buoyed by the population’s discontent, which led them to overthrow the regime and seize power.
This is, in a nutshell, the story of the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was like a modern samurai.
He was first and foremost a doctor, but also a man of letters and a fighter. Japanese samurai of the Middle Ages were indeed men of letters, doctors, and warriors, loyal to their lord.
Ernesto Guevara was loyal to his ideals, which made him immortal.
He was born in Argentina in 1928 and, as everyone knows, died in Bolivia prematurely, at the age of 39, in a failed attempt to export communist revolution to South America. His end was plotted by the CIA without Castro lifting a finger to protect or defend him.
His charisma overshadowed that of the Cuban “líder máximo,” and there were no few political differences between them.
In short, the Cuban Revolution was perhaps betrayed by one of its very architects. This is the kind of thing that can happen with the exercise of power—when power corrupts you.
History has shown that the real limit of communism lies in the systematic suppression of individual prerogatives—even wholly legitimate ones—in the name of collective needs. This logic of placing central power before personal freedom translates, almost inevitably, into a dictatorship.
Placing the community above the individual should, in theory, guarantee equality and social justice. In practice, however, it turns into a severe limitation of personal freedoms, even the most basic and legitimate. The individual loses the ability to express, to choose, to dissent, because every prerogative is subordinated to the “common good,” defined by political power.
Therein lies authoritarianism. In the attempt to abolish inequalities, we end up nullifying freedom itself.
Ernesto Guevara is better known by the nickname “Che,” which in Argentina and Uruguay is a colloquial interjection for addressing someone—like “hey,” “yo,” “buddy.” Ernesto Guevara used it often, and his mates stuck him with the moniker. Hence “Che Guevara,” or simply “El Che.”
He suffered from asthma since childhood, which led the family to move to Córdoba, inland, in search of a more suitable, drier, sunnier climate.
He earned a medical degree at the University of Buenos Aires, specializing in allergology before traveling across South America.
The famous motorcycle journey through Latin America with a friend (documented in his “Motorcycle Diaries”) fostered in him a strong awareness of social inequalities and led him to embrace Marxist theories.
In his personal life he was tied to two women. It was his political commitment that separated him from his first wife, Hilda Gadea, who nonetheless contributed greatly to his human growth. With her he had a daughter, Hilda Beatriz, whom he adored. He called her “Hildita.” She was born on 02/15/1956 and died—ironically—at the same age as her father, 39, of a terrible illness (cancer).
His second wife was Aleida March. With her he had four children: Aleida, born 11/24/1960, still living; Camilo, who died in 2022 at the age of 50 of a pulmonary embolism; Celia (1963); and Ernesto (1965), both still living.
The two wives, jealous of each other and very different from one another, were united by abandonment. “Che” was a faithful man, but totally consumed by his “revolutionary mission,” to which he placed everything, even his own life, in second place. It could hardly have been easy to be close to him.
“Che” was initially supposed to serve only as a doctor for the revolutionaries, but after military training he distinguished himself for skill and capability. In July 1957 Fidel appointed him commander of the second column of the guerrilla army. His troops welcomed a great number of revolutionaries, fired up by the words and charisma of the thirty-year-old Argentine doctor.
On January 2, 1959, Che’s column entered the Cuban capital, Havana, and occupied the military fortress “La Cabaña,” built during Spanish colonization. Most of “his” men were illiterate, and so Guevara founded a school for all the former fighters. During this period he also met the future president of Chile, Salvador Allende, to whom he dedicated his book “Guerrilla Warfare”:
To Salvador Allende, who seeks to achieve the same thing by other means. With affection
— Che
After the success of the revolution, he held prominent roles in the new government, becoming president of the National Bank and Minister of Industry, and was second only to Fidel Castro in importance. But he was restless and missed militant engagement.
In 1966 he went to Bolivia to lead another attempt at revolution, but the guerrilla group was too weak and the Bolivian government, with CIA support, captured and killed him.
Che Guevara’s figure became a symbol of rebellion and an icon for leftist revolutionary movements around the world. The famous photograph taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, known as Alberto Korda, on March 5, 1960, at the ceremony in memory of the victims of the explosion of the ship La Coubre—a “state funeral”—has become one of the most reproduced and recognizable images in history, a universal symbol of the struggle for freedom.
Equally famous is Che Guevara’s motto: “Hasta la victoria siempre.”
Ernesto Che Guevara learned to play chess as a child; it was his father who taught him the moves of the pieces and the rules of the game at the age of six. He soon became a decent player.
Perhaps Che Guevara’s first contact with Cuba was in 1939, at the age of 11. That year, indeed, former world champion José Raúl Capablanca visited Argentina after playing the Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires.
From ages 12 to 20 Che Guevara took part in various local tournaments; when he enrolled in medical school in 1948 he stopped playing in tournaments. The same during the revolutionary period, but he took it back up from 1960, when the political situation on the island stabilized.
At that point he committed himself to spreading the culture of the game among all Cubans, organizing events and tournaments among ordinary people. He found fertile ground—this was, after all, Capablanca’s land.
As in revolution, so on the chessboard, “Che” sought direct confrontation rather than positional play and never held back, even at the risk of losing.
He loved the rationality and discipline needed to carry out strategies and tactics, and the tension between rationality and passion inherent in the game itself.
Encounters, Activity, Tournaments
Che Guevara met many champions (Rogelio Ortega, Miguel Najdorf, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi and Boris Spassky, Capablanca and Bobby Fischer), and he played with many of them.
Cuba dedicated a postage stamp to him, depicting him at the chessboard.
When in 1961 he became director of the National Bank and head of the Ministry of Industry in Cuba, Che Guevara began funding chess events, in particular reviving the tradition of the Capablanca Memorial.
The moves of one of his games are known, probably played in 1962 against Rogelio Ortega, a finalist in the Cuban national championship, who would play the Capablanca Memorial in 1963. Ortega gave a simultaneous exhibition and lost to Che because of a bad oversight.
Game analysis by Riccardo Vinciguerra
At the 1962 Capablanca Memorial, “Che” played against Miguel Najdorf who, blindfolded, was facing 10 opponents in total simultaneously.
When Najdorf played with some important figure (for example, as happened to him, Churchill, Khrushchev, Perón, etc.) he was in the habit of proposing a draw after about a dozen moves, and of course everyone accepted. It seems Che was the only one to refuse and to want to continue.
“I was forced to beat him…” Najdorf would later say.
The moves after the refused draw were not recorded.
At the 1963 Capablanca Memorial, Che Guevara played against Viktor Korchnoi.
Korchnoi recounted that before the simul Mikhail Tal told him to watch out for Che Guevara, because he was rather good.
When he returned to the hotel, Tal asked how it went.
“I won them all,” Korchnoi replied.
“Even against Che Guevara?”
“Yes: he hadn’t the faintest idea how to play against the Catalan…”
The game was never recorded.
The Catalan Opening is a 1.d4 opening where White seeks to combine the kingside fianchetto with pawns on d4/c4. Instead of a direct kingside attack, White will aim for long positional pressure in the center and on Black's queenside.
During the tournament, speaking with the great Czechoslovak player Ludek Pachman, Che Guevara said:
You know, comrade Pachman, I don’t like being a minister at all. I’d rather play chess like you or make a revolution in Venezuela.
— Che Guevara
Ludek Pachman won many important tournaments in his career, but he always considered his best result to be that second place—tied with Mikhail Tal and Yukhym Heller—behind Viktor Korchnoi, at the 1963 Capablanca Memorial in Havana.
After the tournament ended, Che Guevara then played both against Tal and Boris Spassky, congratulating the latter on a great game he had played in the tournament just concluded.
Games, alas, not recorded—and almost certainly lost.
To get a sense of the growth chess experienced in those years in Cuba, aided by José Raúl Capablanca’s wonderful legacy, consider that in 1964 the national championship’s earliest qualifiers saw no fewer than 10,000 players at the starting line!
Also in 1964, in May, Mexico’s national chess team traveled to La Habana for a match against Cuba. The match ended with a Cuban triumph, 7–5. Over the two days of play, “Che” served as arbiter with passion and impartiality. At the end of the games he stayed on to analyze each game with both players.
After the match the Mexicans asked for a meeting with him to get to know him better.
He apologized, saying that due to his many work commitments at the Ministry he would only be able to receive them after 3 a.m. But that worked for them. The Mexican delegation showed up at the Ministry of Industry at 3 a.m., and he received them. After a brief conversation Che Guevara surprised them by setting up a chessboard on a table. They with White—one move each in turn—against him with Black. The encounter (not recorded) ended in a draw.
When at the Ministry of Industry in Cuba, between one workload and another, Che Guevara devoted his little free time to chess, calling this passion of his a “pecadillo,” because it distracted him from his work for the revolutionary cause.
In 1965, shortly before leaving Havana, Che Guevara organized—together with Fidel Castro—the 4th Capablanca Memorial, in Havana.
Bobby Fischer was denied travel to Cuba; he therefore played from New York (Marshall Chess Club) via teleprinter/telex, with the moves forwarded to Havana (among those involved was also José Raúl Capablanca Jr.).
He finished 2nd, tied with two others—Efim Geller and Borislav Ivkov—with a score of 15/21, half a point behind the winner, Vasily Smyslov.
It seems Fischer also played a game by telephone against “Che,” but there is no certainty about this. Who knows—maybe Che Guevara beat him, and that’s the real reason for Fischer’s emotional instability 😆
In the databases you can also find the following game, drawn by “Che” with Filip, one of Czechoslovakia’s best grandmasters. In databases it’s placed in 1962.
Filip also took part in the Havana tournament in 1967, but on that occasion Che Guevara was not in Cuba.
Slav Defense (Fianchetto/Schlechter Variation), via Réti move order.
To conclude, two games taken from the Cuban chess magazine. Here is the first, against the Mexican Armando Acevedo, who would later become national champion.
Armando Acevedo – Ernesto Che Guevara Camagüey, simul 29 May 1964 Ruy López won by Guevara.
Che was very proud of this game
And here is the second, for which neither the date nor exactly who J. M. Alonso was is known. This was a decidedly beautiful game that “Che” won.
Sicilian Defense
"Che” was also fond of chess problems, especially three-move checkmate combinations. Here is a chess problem published in the daily newspaper “Revolución” on Oct 9, 1961, dedicated to him.
Che Guevara died tragically in Bolivia on October 9, 1967, fighting in pursuit—until the end—of the ideals to which he had dedicated his entire life.
The dramatic circumstances of his end helped fuel his myth.
In the wake of what had been done in chess as well, this noble activity—game, science, sport, and art at the same time—maintained an extraordinary momentum in Cuba that continues to this day.
To honor the memory of Che Guevara and his love for chess, on April 29, 2004—almost 40 years after his death—a gigantic chess event was organized in Santa Clara—Cuba—at Plaza Ernesto Che Guevara (square bearing his name), where his mausoleum is located.
A full 13,000 players, including 500 masters, were present. Karpov himself opened the simultaneous event.
In 2004 the FIDE–Classical split—born from the PCA breakaway in 1993—was still ongoing (until 2006). At that time the FIDE title was held by Ponomariov (until mid-2004, then Kasimdzhanov), while Kramnik was the Classical World Champion.
This, in brief, is the private, political, and chess story of the great Che Guevara. Despite his absolute devotion to his revolutionary political mission, he managed in parallel to cultivate his passion for chess and sincerely committed himself to spreading its practice—so formative and instructive—among his people, whom he loved.
History will judge his deeds. In the meantime, we can enjoy his games.
I hope you liked the article. Don’t hesitate to leave your comments—I’ll read them with joy. What do you think of Che Guevara the chess player?
Soon I will write to you about José Raúl Capablanca… I’m already excited at the very thought…
Wishing you peace 🌈
See you soon
DocSimooo
Le partite di Ernesto Che Guevara di Adolivio Capece–Uno Scacchista.com
Anch'io ti ricorderò ovvero "Così giocava il Che" by Mongo—August 1, 2013
Chess Notes Archive by Edward Winter
Spanish descriptive chess notations
