Beautiful Minds

Magnus Carlsen once jested in an interview that John Nunn “never became world champion because he is too clever… his enormous powers of understanding distracted him from chess.” The throwaway line was meant as a light compliment. Nevertheless, it hinted at the type of intellectual being that Nunn was, which gave him the ability to navigate algebraic topology and endgame tablebases without ever losing sight of the 64 squares (Wei).

Born in London in 1955, Nunn was solving chess problems before most children learn long division. At twelve, he captured the British U-14 title; two years later, he was London’s U-18 champion, and at fifteen, he strode through the gates of Oriel College, Oxford, becoming the university’s youngest undergraduate since Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1520 (“John Nunn”). He completed a mathematics degree in a mere three years, and by the age of 23, he had already earned a D.Phil. on finite H-spaces, a lesser-known algebraic structure akin to ‘looped’ manifolds. These structures mirrored the self-referential beauty he would later appreciate in chess endings.

Dr. Nunn inspires me because he was simultaneously a great mathematician and calculator, as well as a world-class chess player. While many prodigies retreat with a lack of concern for practical matters, Nunn split his time between lecturing on topology and terrorizing grandmasters. First, his chess side: European Junior Champion in 1975, he earned the GM title in 1978 and lifted the British Championship two years later. Victories at Wijk aan Zee (1982, 1990, 1991), also known as the Tata Steel Tournament, one of the most prestigious chess tournaments worldwide, kept his name penciled onto the invitation lists of top events. In January 1989, his 2620 Elo nudged him into the world top ten, part of England’s golden trio alongside Nigel Short and Jonathan Speelman (“John Nunn”).

However, Dr. Nunn’s achievements in the math world and his accomplishments at the intersections of mathematics and chess are arguably more impressive than his over-the-board chess accolades. Nunn greatly helped usher chess into the software table-base age. In fact, in my research paper about the intersection between math and chess, part of the theoretical calculations on engine evaluation that are discussed are owed to the mathematical foundations that Dr. Nunn laid out decades ago. Beginning with the theoretical analysis of endgame positions in his book Secrets of Rook Endings in 1992, Nunn mined newly-generated databases to debunk decades-old endgame dogma. Then, he packaged the findings in prose even club players could follow (“John Nunn Chessprogramming Wiki”). Tablebase evaluations are fascinating: when there exist 7 or fewer pieces on the chessboard, software engineers have calculated the completely optimal way to play for both sides regardless of the position, and the resulting outcomes of the games when both sides play optimally. Today’s ubiquitous “Syzygy” tablebase evaluations owe a conceptual debt to the groundwork he laid. 

When he finally scaled back tournament play, Nunn pointed his telescopes skyward. Astronomy, shared, fittingly, with Viswanathan Anand, became a fresh canvas for hunting patterns; his eclipse photos and comet essays now dot ChessBase’s archives (“Chess News”). Dr. Nunn has always been drawn to the limits of knowledge where logic meets and sharpens curiosity, whether it be in the chess world with rook endgames or in observing the great astronomical patterns in the skies. 

In an era that often rewards narrow focus, John Nunn reminds us that intellect thrives even more at the crossroads of multiple disciplines. Perhaps he never lifted the world championship trophy, but the algorithms, books, and solved studies he leaves behind will keep elevating players long after any trophy has tarnished.

Works Cited

“Chess News.” Chessbase.com, Chessbase, 2025, en.chessbase.com/766.

“John Nunn Chessprogramming Wiki.” Chessprogramming.org, 2015, http://www.chessprogramming.org/John_Nunn.

“John Nunn.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Nov. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nunn.

Wei, Eugene. “Remains of the Day.” Remains of the Day, 17 Mar. 2010, http://www.eugenewei.com/imported-mt-blog/2010/3/17/interview-with-magnus-carlsen.html.