In Cuba, chess is a game for the masses

After coming to power in the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro and his band of rebels sought to transform the impoverished island not only with radical social programs and mass education, but also with chess. In a Cold War world where American chess great Bobby Fischer and Soviet champion Boris Spassky played out the battle between East and West with queens and pawns, Cuba's communist government actively promoted the game. It introduced chess as a required subject in schools, launched chess