He was born in Recife. The son of journalist Vandeck Santiago and aromatherapist Maria Gorethi Barbosa de Moura, Yago Santiago received the first guidance on how to play chess with his father at the age of eight and his first participation in competition chess occurred when he was ten years old, with paternal encouragement. With ease of learning and doing variant calculations quickly, today stands out with an aggressive style of play.
The great masters who most influenced him were Kasparov, Alekhine and Fischer. In chess literature, the preferred works are My Great Predecessors of Kasparov and Zurich 53 by Bronstein. Santiago considers Henrique Mecking the greatest Brazilian chess player of all time. The favorite matches of his career are those against GM's André Diamant and Alexandr Fier in the 2009 Brazilian Final. In his official matches, Santiago has a special predilection for the Sicilian Defense. He also held several simultaneous matches, amongthem against the students of the World College in Natal.
In 2009 he was absolute champion of the Northeast of Brazil after winning the II Memorial Governador Miguel Arraes, an event better known as "Nordestão". In the same year he achieved the title of FIDE Master with an official rating of 2,274 points. In 2010 he was again absolute champion of the Northeast after winning the third edition of Nordestão.
Santiago has won two Brazilian Open tournaments that are national tournaments in which participation is free to all chess players, whether brazilian or from other countries. In the Osasco tournament,held between April 20 and 22, 2012, he was runner-up, and the champion was Paraguayan GM José Fernando Cubas.
On June 22, 2012 he became the first Pernambucan to win the title of International Master and the first northeastern chess player to perform this feat representing a federation of northeastern Brazil. After becoming runner-up in the South American Chess Championship, in the U-20 category, held in Asunción,the capital of Paraguay. Santiago finished the South American tied with seven points with another Brazilian, MI Evandro Barbosa, from Minas Gerais. In the tiebreaker, Barbosa was the title of champion and Santiago, vice, which guaranteed him the title of International Master.
In 1972,the Brazilian and two-time champion Hélder Câmara was the first northeastern chess player to win the title of International Master, but representing the Federation of São Paulo. The same can be said of the Maranhão Rafael Leitão and the Ceará André Diamant, current GM's. Santiago is the first to obtain the title representing a northeastern federation.
Wikipedia article: Yago De Moura Santiago
Kibitzing
