Jesús Nogueiras Santiago

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A prominent sports personality who began playing Chess at a very early age and, due to his excellent performance, became the youngest chess player in the world in 1976.

He was born in the center of the country, in the town of Remedios, former province of Las Villas, today Villa Clara. Nogueira learned the fundamentals of chess at age 7, fascinated by the peculiar movement of the chess pieces in their journey across the squares.

His first steps as a chess player began at the Raúl Cárdenas academy in Abel Santamaria, Santa Clara, where he found his first teachers, MI Ciro A. Fernández and P.J. García.

He took full advantage of his first opportunity to achieve the requirements for the GM title, when he shared first place with other players at the III Magistral Juventud Rebelde held in La Habana in 1978 and competed in category VI in the FIDE rating system.

Later in Kecskemet, Hungary (CAT IX) in June 1979 he completed his title, sharing 2nd through 4th places. It is interesting to note that Nogueira, in these two tournaments, played 32 games (two more than those required by FIDE for the GM title) and achieved 71.9% effectiveness, as a result of scoring 23 points, experiencing only one loss.

In 1979 FIDE homologated his title, making him the youngest Grandmaster on the planet, succeeding his compatriot A. Rodríguez who had achieved it in 1978, and in turn would yield such honor to G. Kasparov who would achieve it in 1980.

To understand his playing style, we need to know how it has gradually evolved. In the 1970s we appreciate the coexistence of solidity and risk.

The first allowed him to string together, on more than one occasion, several dozen games without having to bow his king to any rival; and the second, the achievement of games of great brilliance, due to the brilliance with which he obtained full points against his opponents. Entering the 80s and to the present, Nogueira himself recognizes that his style is purely positional, noting that his playing strength declines in complicated situations and that above all he enjoys counterattack, when he plays Black.

There is graphic evidence dating from 1973 when the XIII National Chess Tournament was held in the Revolutionary Armed Forces. What is eloquent about this photo is that he appears sitting on a small wooden box placed on top of a chair to reach greater height over the board, a tiny figure with lively eyes, extremely black hair, dressed entirely in olive green, and who at the end of the game wins third place.

His inclusion in this tournament was due to his studies at the Camilo Cienfuegos Military School; in this regard, it should be noted that even today in Cuban chess circles he is known as "Camilito".

Of quick thinking and photographic memory, Nogueira possesses complete command of theory and technique, which combined with his recognized talent has enabled him to be the player who, in our country, has come closest to the stature and chess dimension of the brilliant Capablanca, according to the achievements attained in his sporting career. The following are some facts that support this criterion:

In 1985 he was the first Cuban chess player to become a Candidate for the World Championship, after obtaining his qualification brilliantly at the Taxco-85 Interzonal (CAT XI). Notably, that same year he had participated for the first time in an event of CAT X or higher, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (CAT XI), where he finished in 10th and 11th places.

After the tiebreak was applied and he obtained 4th place in the Zagreb-87 Interzonal, he was invited by the Grandmasters Association to participate in the I Grand Prix (a system of tournaments of the highest category that provided a cumulative score according to the place he occupied in his three best results from four participations) held between 1988 and 1989 with the participation of the best players in the world, being the only Latin American representative.

From 1976 to 1996 he participated in 14 National Championships, winning the crown in 1977 (shared with Lebredo and Vilela), 1978, 1984, and 1991; in 1988 and 1993 despite scoring equally with the winner, he had to settle for 2nd place. In total he has played 199 games obtaining 125.5 points (W-69 D-113 L-17), valid for an efficiency of 63.1%, the highest achieved by any player with 10 or more participations in our national event.

He has been part of the national team to defend the country's colors in the World Olympiads from 1980 to date. In 8 tournaments he has had an efficiency of 60.6% (W-34 D-52 L-13, 6 pts. out of 99 possible). From 1984 to 1996 he defended the 1st board achieving an efficiency of 60.4% (W-25 D-43 L-9), the highest score achieved by our representatives at these events. As an additional element, it is only fair to recognize that his performance rating is 2587 defending the first line of Cuban chess on six occasions.

In the second half of 1981 he reaches an ELO rating of 2500. In the same period but in 1984 and to date, he has been well above that figure, reaching its maximum value in the second half of 1993, when he obtained 2580, the highest score achieved by a Cuban GM since the FIDE implemented this system.

From 1984 to 1996 he has reaffirmed his GM status on eight occasions, in events of CAT XI or higher. In 2010 he was the national runner-up.

His results against elite or super-GM players (2600 or higher) are the most satisfactory achieved by any Cuban, as in 132 games he has obtained 53 points, sufficient for 40.2% efficiency. Between 1984 and 1990 his efficiency was 39.7% (38.5 pts. out of 97), while from 1991 to mid-1998 he reached 14.5 pts. out of 3.

In summary, for the glory of Cuban chess, Jesús Nogueira Santiago is one of the most notable indigenous talents that the game of science has produced in Hispanic America.