Seven years ago I wrote about my fifty years playing in British Championships, and now I have reached another milestone with my 70th birthday. Some years ago, I and my family moved from Surrey to Cornwall, a beautiful area in south-west England. This fitted well with our lifestyles, which are based mainly on outdoor activities such as hiking and swimming. At the time, I anticipated that this would effectively mean retirement from over-the-board chess, but events turned out differently.

In 2022 I was encouraged to start playing for the England 65+ team in the World Senior Team Championships and since then have taken part in many 65+ events, both team and individual. Success in these has enabled me to increase my total of major chess titles, which currently stands at (counting both team and individual results) 13 World Championship titles and six European Championship titles (footnote below). Adding British titles would more than double this total, but that’s enough self-congratulation for now.

This year’s win in the European 65+ Team Championship, in which the English team won every match and didn’t lose a single individual game, was a poignant moment for me as it was almost exactly 50 years since my first-ever major title. This was the 1974-5 European Junior Championship held in Groningen, which I won by beating Yehuda Grunfeld in the last round. I don’t have any good photos from this time, so you will have to make do with this image from the tournament book.

Curiously, I won against the same opponent in the 2024 World 65+ Team Championship, almost 50 years after our first encounter.

Apart from senior events, I don’t take part in many chess activities, so my retirement is partially true. I did make a comeback in the World Problem-Solving Championship in 2024, finishing second to Kacper Piorun in the individual (note, not a senior event!) and helping the British trio win the team event for the first time since 2007.

The highly academic winning British problem-solving team from Jurmala 2024, (L to R) Prof Jonathan Mestel, Dr John Nunn and Dr David Hodge, all mathematicians. Jonathan has three grandmaster titles, for over-the-board play, problem-solving and bridge.

My only other over-the-board chess is playing for Bude in the Cornish League. Teams compete for the ‘County Shield’, and this year Bude have defended their title from 2024, possibly helped by a top board who scored 11/12.

The trophy [click to enlarge] dates back to 1903 and must be one of the oldest active chess trophies in the world. The championship has been run more or less continuously since then, with breaks only for the two World Wars and for Covid.

Now we come on to my 70th birthday. I wanted a special event and decided on something which I am pretty sure has never been attempted before: to hold a blitz tournament at the highest point in Cornwall, the oddly-named ‘Brown Willy’ (there are various theories as to the origin of this name). So the three members of the Nunn family and three fit local players started off for this unique event.

Michael Nunn, John Nunn, John Constable, Petra Nunn, Helen Cooley, Lloyd Russell. It felt like an Enid Blyton book : ‘Six go up Brown Willy’. Some of her books were set in Cornwall.

At the summit we had a fine view of Bodmin Moor and the North Cornish countryside.

Having found a suitable venue for the event – a flat rock, play begins

There were a few interested spectators

Surfer Lloyd explains how he took off all his opponent’s pieces. Note that there was no FIDE Dress Code at this event.

And the least important part of the event, the final result: John Nunn 5, Petra Nunn 4, Michael Nunn, John Constable and Lloyd Russell 2, Helen Cooley 0. Since it’s apparently not allowed to write an article for ChessBase which doesn’t contain any chess, here’s the crucial last-round battle that decided the destination of top spot.

And as a bonus, here’s a game from this year’s World 65+ Team Championship, held in Prague and won by England.

Your slightly bemused-looking author receiving a cuddly toy representing the ‘Best Game of the Round’ prize for the above game

Finally, readers should do a bit of work, so here are two problems I composed especially for my 70th birthday. These are both helpmates in six. Black moves first, and both sides cooperate to ensure that White mates Black on his (White’s) sixth move. So both sides play six moves and all the moves must be legal. You can move pieces to solve the problems below.