The chess world is saddened by the passing of Jorge Vega Fernandez (1935-2023). Former president of the American Continental Chess Federation, was an honorary member of FIDE, and a key figure for chess in the Americas.
Vega, a contemporary of Ernesto Che Guevara, was born in Cuba in 1935 and participated in the Cuban Revolution which overthrew the Batista regime in 1959. An international article stated the “legendary Che Guevara ordered him to carry a pocket chess set so that they could play chess between battles with government Batista troops”. Che Guevara was the best man at Vega’s wedding.
