Cuban Grand Master of Chess in his role as educator

June 8, 2019

"I teach young people with the same love that I was taught," expressed Grand Master Jesús Nogueiras, upon initiating a simultaneous exhibition at the Chess Palace "Guillermo García" in Santa Clara.

Recently winning undefeated in Group Premier 2 of the International Chess Tournament "Guillermo García" in Memoriam, has injected new vigor into this icon of Cuban chess, born 59 years ago in Santa Clara, capital of the Cuban province of Villa Clara.

"This simultaneous exhibition is the 22nd that I conduct this year against very talented young people, of both sexes, with whom on alternating days I analyze games and provide them with some tactics of openings and endgames," revealed the Grand Master.

Nogueiras is the Cuban chess player, among men, with the most Olympic participations (14); and in the 1980s of the past century, he achieved draws, at least, with the pinnacle of world chess such as Grand Masters Garri Kasparov, Anatoli Karpov, Boris Spassky, Igor Smirnov, Mikhail Tal, and Viktor Korchnoi.

"When I teach young people, I pass on the knowledge that in my early years was taught to me by my chess teachers, International Master Ciro Fernández, the IMs Pedro Julio García and Guillermo Estévez, and even Guillermito García himself, despite the fact that he was only a few years older than me," he acknowledged.

Villa Clara has been the most comprehensive province in Cuba for chess for two consecutive years, and boasts outstanding young players such as FIDE Master and current Cuban youth champion Jerzy Jesús Pérez and Rosángela Obregón, member of the Cuban women's chess pre-selection.

Grand Master Nogueiras' mischievous face lights up and opens. "In the last simultaneous exhibition, a girl and a boy beat me: Rosángela Manso and Máximo Ariel Cabrera, who at less than 15 years of age are already difficult opponents for any chess player."

Winner of three Capablanca tournaments in Memoriam, in the Premier Group, and selected 27 times among the 10 best athletes of the year in Villa Clara, Grand Master Jesús Nogueiras shows himself very happy in his role as a teaching master.