Talk:John Nunn

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Nunn has a number of opening variations named after him. There is the Nunn Gambit in the the Sicilian defence which begins: 1.e4 c5 2. d4 c*d4 3. c3 d5 4. Bb5+! A more popular opening named after Nunn is the Nunn (or c6) variation of the Centre-Counter opening which proceeds thusly: 1.e4 d5 2. e*d5 c6! 3. d*c6 Nf6! 4. d*b7 B*b7 This variation was popularized by the game Plasko-Nunn Denmark 1987 which went: 1.e4 d5 2. e*d5 c6 3. d*c6 Nf6 4. d*b7 B*b7 5.Bc4 (Plasko intended to attempt an attack on the black f7 square but he inadvertently leaves his g2 square exposed). 5 ... B*g2! 6. B*f7+ K*f7 7. Qh5+ N*h5 (at this point, Plasko got up from the board, leisurely walked to the bathroom, and upon coming back to the board tipped his king, to wild applause from the crowd).

It reads like a joke. I found only one game with this so-called "Nunn gambit" in the Chessbase Megabase 2004, and that didn't involve Nunn (it was a game in the 1993 Slovakian under-16 championship). I found no reference to anything called the "Nunn gambit" either in my books or on the web. I found no games with the moves given above as Plasko-Nunn, nor any mention of a player called Plasko. I found no games where Nunn played the Scandinavian (or Centre-Counter) Defence. White's play in this supposed game is, to put it kindly, not optimal, and I would suggest that if it happened at all it was in a simul rather than a serious game and is therefore not worthy of mention. Of course, if somebody wants to point me towards an issue of Skakbladet or some other reputable source which covers all this, detailing the important theoretical revolution the game sparked, I will admit I'm wrong (and eat my chess set too). --Camembert


Wasn't Nunn the youngest grad from Oxford (or was it Cambridge?) since Lord Kelvin?