John Nunn: Fifty years of chess

Linking the present and the past

My first British was in 1967, when it was held in the Examination Schools of Oxford University. On that occasion I participated in the Under-14 section, at that time the youngest age category available. The event was new territory for me, since it was my first national tournament, although I had previously won the London Under-12 Championship. I wasn’t a member of a chess club, and my grasp of chess theory was, to put it mildly, very limited. My family couldn’t afford any kind of normal accommodation so, with the farmer’s permission, we pitched a tent in a field outside Oxford and travelled in to the chess every day. The fact that the field was shared with a considerable number of cows was only a minor inconvenience.

The Examination Schools was (and still is) a magnificent building, with large halls and impressive staircases. The junior events took place in the morning, with the Championship proper being played in the afternoon. I really had no idea how well I was likely to do, so I was pleased to start with a win and a draw. The half-point was shared with Matthew Reisz, whom I bumped into just a few weeks before writing this article, since he was competing in the British Problem Solving Championship. I almost lost catastrophically in round three due to my lack of opening theory knowledge, but fortunately I averted disaster at the last moment and even won the game.

The Under-14 Championship was 11 rounds, just like the main Championship, played at the reasonable rate of one game per day; there was even a free day in the middle of the event. As an example of how different junior chess was then, I noted in my scorebook that my win with Black against Gerard O’Reilly, which took 71 moves, was played from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then, after the adjournment, from 2.30 p.m. until 4.42 p.m., a total of 6 hours 12 minutes. No quickplay finishes in those days, even kids were expected to play the games out properly! Gerard is still active today, as he is a major organiser in Oxfordshire chess. It may be that there are others I played who are still involved with chess and I apologise for any omissions.

I continued with a mixture of wins and draws, but as it turned out everything hinged on the last round as I was just half a point ahead of my nearest rival, Laurence Marks. I found myself facing an opponent I had never played before, Tony Miles.

It could be said that I was a bit lucky in this game, but in the end everything turned out well for me, and the final scores in the event were J. Nunn 9 (out of 11), L. Marks 8.5, D.T. Marr and J.K. Orell 7. The Championship proper was won by Jonathan Penrose, and was the eighth of his British Championship titles (Penrose’s final tally was ten wins).

Three years after this event I was back in Oxford, this time as an undergraduate at Oriel College, reading Maths.

Oriel College in 1970

In the first year at Oriel I shared a room with Michael Potter, a geology student, with whom I have unfortunately lost touch. Undergraduate life was rather more spartan than students enjoy these days.

My first-year accommodation in Oxford in 1970

Going to Oxford proved a great help for my chess, as I could meet the many strong players who were at the University then. During the whole of my time there, ten years in all, I participated in practically every event of the local chess scene. There were two main inter-college competitions, the knockout Cuppers and a College League. On top of this, two University teams (called Pieces and Pawns) took part in the Oxfordshire Evening League, competing against other local clubs. I was a Piece, by the way. The Oxford League is still going strong, indeed with many of the same teams that took part in the 1970s, but inter-college chess appears to have more or less disappeared.

In 1973 I was back in the Examination Schools for my final examinations; indeed the Maths exams took place in the hall just opposite the one in which I had played chess six years earlier. I played hundreds of games in Oxford, some of them quite interesting and almost all unpublished. But in keeping with the title of this article, I will just give one, which was played just a few months before I left Oxford for good to become a professional player.

I have chosen this game because some 35 years later I met Stephen Peters across the board once again, this time in the Witney weekend congress. He proved a most resilient opponent.

One of the pleasures of chess is that is that players often have a lifelong affection for the game, and it’s not unusual to meet opponents I faced 40 or more years ago.

Fifty years after the Oxford event, I travelled to Llandudno in North Wales for the 2017 edition of the British Championship. I hadn’t played at the British since 1980, when I won the Championship proper, and I was curious to see what the event was like these days. The town was pleasant, and there was some really attractive scenery within walking distance (provided you are prepared to do a NunnWalk).

Near the top of the Great Orme, with Llandudno visible in the distance [click or tap to enlarge]

One major difference from 50 years before was the inclusion of several events for younger kids. In 1967 the junior events ranged from Under-21 down to Under-14, but now they covered a range from Under-16 down as far as Under-8. Older juniors were given a chance to play in the Championship proper, and many did so. Back in 1967 there was an elaborate qualification system for the Championship, which made it hard for younger players, even if they were talented, to get a place. Certainly, much progress has been made regarding the inclusion of younger players. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of the venue, which would have been suitable for a weekend tournament, but not a prestigious national championship. A cramped, noisy room (especially if you were playing near the door) with poor analysis facilities was certainly nothing to compare with the Oxford venue from 50 years before. But of course part of the fun of the event is the social side, and this was as good as ever, with plenty of chances to meet old friends.

The first round proved an unwelcome surprise as my opponent, who had a modest rating of 2043, played solidly and well; indeed, at one point I had to defend accurately to draw. A number of players of my generation recently remarked to me how much more difficult it is to beat lower-rated players these days, and I think this is definitely true. At one time you just had to wait for some serious mistake and then you could win with little effort. However, these days chess knowledge is easier to come by so players have a much better general understanding and are generally well prepared in the opening. Consequently, it can be a real effort to win, especially with Black. Indeed, a number of my games in Llandudno went on well into the ending. After this initial setback, I won my next five games and a relatively quick draw against Paul Littlewood in the last round secured the title. Here’s one of the wins.

I don’t know if it is a record to win two British titles half a century apart, but in any case I was happy with the result. Frank Marshall once wrote a book called “My Fifty Years of Chess” (well, actually Reinfeld is said to have written much of it, but that’s rather beside the point), which is well worth reading. The great American Champion obviously loved chess, and in that respect I feel a certain kinship with him.

After the tournament, another old chess opponent and Oxford University contemporary, Jim Burnett, kindly gave me a lift to Manchester Airport and I was off to Dresden for the World Problem Solving Championship. Oh, and Gawain Jones became British champion after beating Luke McShane in the final of the play-off.