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John Nunn
Nunn 
 

Number of games in database: 1,696
Years covered: 1963 to 2022
Last FIDE rating: 2568 (2536 rapid, 2490 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2630
Overall record: +643 -249 =723 (62.2%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 81 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (320) 
    B33 B81 B89 B80 B32
 French Defense (130) 
    C11 C19 C10 C16 C07
 Ruy Lopez (111) 
    C84 C80 C92 C73 C77
 Caro-Kann (76) 
    B12 B10 B17 B13 B14
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (57) 
    C84 C92 C93 C90 C91
 Sicilian Najdorf (53) 
    B93 B90 B99 B97 B96
With the Black pieces:
 King's Indian (256) 
    E97 E60 E92 E81 E84
 Sicilian (144) 
    B33 B45 B97 B92 B90
 Ruy Lopez (80) 
    C89 C84 C85 C68 C64
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (60) 
    C89 C84 C85 C86 C91
 Sicilian Najdorf (52) 
    B97 B92 B90 B93 B95
 Modern Benoni (51) 
    A65 A77 A67 A61 A62
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Beliavsky vs Nunn, 1985 0-1
   J Ost-Hansen vs Nunn, 1974 0-1
   L Y Hsu vs Nunn, 1992 0-1
   J Augustin vs Nunn, 1977 0-1
   Nunn vs Fedorowicz, 1991 1-0
   Nunn vs K Georgiev, 1988 1-0
   R I Reynolds vs Nunn, 1987 0-1
   Nunn vs Sosonko, 1982 1-0
   Nunn vs J A Sutton, 1984 1-0
   Nunn vs G Anthony, 1981 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Budapest Tungsram (1978)
   Wiesbaden (1981)
   FRG Open Championship (1986)
   Hoogovens (1990)
   7th Lloyds Bank Masters Open (1983)
   British Championship (1979)
   14th Lloyds Bank Masters Open (1990)
   Thessaloniki Olympiad (1984)
   17th Lloyds Bank Masters Open (1993)
   Szirak Interzonal (1987)
   London (1975)
   Commonwealth Championship (1985)
   SKA-Mephisto Tournament (1991)
   11th Lloyds Bank Masters Open (1987)
   Buenos Aires Olympiad (1978)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   0ZeR0's Favorite Games Volume 16 by dheerajmohan
   0ZeR0's Favorite Games Volume 16 by 0ZeR0
   Nunn & Griffiths: Secrets of Grandmaster Play by pawn to QB4
   Nunn & Griffiths: Secrets of Grandmaster Play by yiotta
   Grandmaster Chess Move by Move by edwin.n.walker
   Grandmaster Chess Move by Move by howardb86
   Grandmaster Chess Move by Move by Southernrun
   Skelleftea World Cup 1989 by suenteus po 147
   Rotterdam World Cup 1989 by suenteus po 147

GAMES ANNOTATED BY NUNN: [what is this?]
   Short vs Miles, 1984
   Nunn vs Sadler, 1993
   Hodgson vs S Agdestein, 1986
   Musaiev vs M Karmov, 1979
   Najdorf vs Mecking, 1978
   >> 6 GAMES ANNOTATED BY NUNN

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 FIDE World Senior Chess Championship
   Nunn vs N Birnboim (Nov-22-22) 1-0
   M Adams vs Nunn (May-02-17) 0-1
   Nunn vs A Greenfeld (Apr-30-17) 0-1
   S Ivanov vs Nunn (Apr-29-17) 1-0
   Nunn vs J Salonen (Apr-28-17) 1-0

Search Sacrifice Explorer for John Nunn
Search Google for John Nunn
FIDE player card for John Nunn


JOHN NUNN
(born Apr-25-1955, 68 years old) United Kingdom

[what is this?]

Dr. John Denis Martin Nunn was born in London, England. FIDE awarded him the IM title in 1975 and the GM title in 1978. He, along with Ram Soffer and Andrew Jonathan Mestel, has the distinction of holding both over-the-board and problem-solving GM titles. He won the European Junior Championship in 1974-75, was British Champion in 1980 and was a triple gold medalist in the Thessaloniki Olympiad in 1984. He won the World Problem Solving Championship in 2004, 2007, and 2010. He won the over-65 section of the 2022 and 2023 World Senior Championships.

He is also a well-respected chess author who has written a number of best-selling works on endgames and the openings.

He holds a doctorate in Mathematics from Oxford University. His dissertation was on finite H-spaces.

Wikipedia article: John Nunn

Last updated: 2023-11-06 02:51:28

 page 1 of 68; games 1-25 of 1,696  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Keene vs Nunn 1-0221963Surrey Junior ChampsA04 Reti Opening
2. Keene vs Nunn 1-0281969HammersmithA09 Reti Opening
3. Miles vs Nunn 1-0201969BCF-ch U18C55 Two Knights Defense
4. R Emerson vs Nunn  ½-½541969Hammersmith OpenC85 Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation Doubly Deferred (DERLD)
5. Keene vs Nunn 1-0471970HammersmithA08 King's Indian Attack
6. J M Aitken vs Nunn  ½-½141970Islington OpenC64 Ruy Lopez, Classical
7. Nunn vs R Johannes 1-0321970Islington Junior AB47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation
8. Nunn vs R Moberly  ½-½521970Islington Junior AC73 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense
9. S Mariotti vs Nunn 1-0201970Islington Junior AC64 Ruy Lopez, Classical
10. Miles vs Nunn 0-1491970Islington Junior AC44 King's Pawn Game
11. Nunn vs R R Smith 1-0161970Islington Junior AB12 Caro-Kann Defense
12. R Bellin vs Nunn  ½-½231970Islington Junior AC64 Ruy Lopez, Classical
13. Nunn vs M Stean  0-1231970Islington Junior AB99 Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line
14. R O'Kelly vs Nunn 1-0241970Islington Junior AD07 Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defense
15. Nunn vs Keene 0-1221971HammersmithB06 Robatsch
16. B Kurajica vs Nunn 0-1211971IslingtonC88 Ruy Lopez
17. B Kernan vs Nunn 1-0271972Glorney CupB00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening
18. S Velickovic vs Nunn  0-1371972Norwich JuniorC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
19. S Ivarsson vs Nunn  1-0561972Norwich JuniorA00 Uncommon Opening
20. Nunn vs T Rosenlund  ½-½311972Norwich JuniorB09 Pirc, Austrian Attack
21. B de Jonghe vs Nunn 0-1251972Norwich JuniorC48 Four Knights
22. Sax vs Nunn 1-0251972Norwich JuniorC57 Two Knights
23. P Mack vs Nunn  0-1461972Norwich JuniorA28 English
24. Nunn vs D Cox 0-1191972Norwich JuniorB45 Sicilian, Taimanov
25. S Bailloux vs Nunn  0-1331972Norwich JuniorC56 Two Knights
 page 1 of 68; games 1-25 of 1,696  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Nunn wins | Nunn loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 15 OF 15 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jun-01-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I often listen to the radio, but if I start to read anything, then listening stops immediately.
Jun-01-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Troller: I have listened to many audio books in the car. Entire Jo Nesbø series, among others - "The Slap" by Tsolkias (or what's his name) was a major positive suprise also.

But I cannot sit in a chair and listen to an audio book, then I get restless.

Jun-01-16  john barleycorn: Believe half of what you read and none of what you hear.

I often listened to my wife but there was zero retention of what she said. When I read the letters from her lawyer things improved dramatically.

Jul-18-16  PhilFeeley: World Senior stuff this year, too, including a win of the individual silver medal at the team event.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/world...

Feb-06-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Many people attribute the abbreviation LPDO: Loose Pieces Drop Off to GM Nunn.

But it wasn't him, it was Terence P D Chapman who coined the phrase while having lessons with the GM.

Feb-06-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: A point acknowledged by Nunn himself in his collection of best games published in the mid 1990s.
Feb-06-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I saw chessbase giving the author as Nunn himself recently, and I saw this collection: Game Collection: LPDO -> LOOSE PIECES DROP OFF! (GM DR J. NUNN). So I thought I'd mention that it was Chapman just to put it on Nunn's page.

Nunn has always been clear that it wasn't him.

Mar-20-18  thegoodanarchist: < offramp: Many people attribute the abbreviation LPDO: Loose Pieces Drop Off to GM Nunn.>

Who invented LSMFT?

Mar-20-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <thegoodanarchist: Who invented LSMFT?>

FK.

Mar-20-18  Petrosianic: <thegoodanarchist: Who invented LSMFT?>

Depends if you mean Leibowitz, Sanders, McIntyre, Findlay, and Teitelbaum (the world's biggest chalk manufactucturs), "Larry Stevens Makes Fine Tunes", or "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco".

Mar-21-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <thegoodanarchist: Who invented LSMFT?>

Better answer: LMGTFY.

Mar-21-18  morfishine: LSMFT = Lipo Suction Minimizes Fat Tits

*****

Jul-09-18  ChessHigherCat: Sorry to change the (abject) subject here, but what ever happened to Nunn? Has he got him to a nunnery? He seems like one of the world's best tacticians in terms of being able to visualize complicated combinations. His rating doesn't reflect his talents for some reason, maybe because he gets nervous in competition or something.
Jul-09-18  swampdragon: I suspect he discovered that it is more lucrative to write about chess than to play in tournaments, at least for a writer as talented as John Nunn.
Oct-18-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: <Dr John Nunn is one of the best-respected figures in world chess. He was among the world's leading grandmasters for nearly twenty years, winning four gold medals in chess Olympiads and finishing sixth overall in the World Cup in 1989. >

http://www.gambitbooks.com/books/Jo...

But only two Olympiad gold medals were for OTB play, and those were awarded for the same performance at <Thessaloniki 1984>: http://www.olimpbase.org/1984/1984i...

His third gold was winning the problem solving competition at the same event. I assume he won another problem solving Olympid gold but haven't yet found out which.

Nonetheless, Gambit's claim - which implies he won them OTB - is a bit naughty!

Jul-26-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: <Loose pieces drop off!> Ain't that the truth...
Aug-29-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: Nunn routed the field at the British over-65 championship this year, easily winning all seven games. Not surprising, since his highest-rated opponent was 333 rating points below him, and the rest over 500 points lower. Only two of his opponents made it to move 30, and none (Nunn?) to move 40. https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-t...
Nov-27-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: He just won the over-65 division of the 2022 World Senior Championship.
Nov-27-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: Here are Nunn's decisive games of no more than 20 moves: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...
Sep-04-23  Caissanist: FIDE doesn't publish a senior list but it appears that, if they did, Nunn would be lapping the field. At 68, he is rated 2568. I can't find anyone else 65 or older who is rated over 2500.
Sep-04-23  Cassandro: <caissanist> Karpov's last FIDE rating is 2617. And he is 72.
Sep-04-23  HSOL: <Caissanist>: Among active players he's #1, Iossif Dorfman is 2531 (born 1953), followed by Jan Timman 2522 (b. 1951) and Ulf Andersson 2518 (b. 1951)

Among inactives #1 is an FM(!) Vladimir Afromeev 2633 (b. 1954), followed by Karpov and 5 other GMs rated higher than Nunn (3 of them younger than Nunn though).

Sep-05-23  Caissanist: Of course there are many retired players rated higher than he. Surprised about Dorfman though.
Sep-05-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: How can you be:

1) retired; and

2) have a rating?

Inactive should not be considered a valid 'rating.' Fischer was nutts, a certified banana, yet still had a 2600+ rating at his death.

Sep-05-23  Caissanist: Btw, Afromeev was a notorious fake, he got most of his rating points in events he organized himself.
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