England actually had the best game points total of all the 50+ teams, and four of their five players finished in gold or silver medal positions, but it was match points that mattered.
Nunn and Large were well supported by Tony Kosten, the France-based author of many opening books as well as 101 Tips to Improve Your Chess; and by the team captain, Glenn Flear, whose performance at London 1986 is still the stuff of legend.
The over-65s, led by the individual world champion, John Nunn, and with a virtuoso 7/8 performance by Peter Large, led throughout and were unbeaten with 16/18 match points, seven wins and two draws.
Had there been silver and bronze, Stuart Conquest and John Emms (50+), Petra Fink-Nunn and Helen Frostick (women’s 50+), Nunn and Ian Snape (65+) would have achieved silver, and Paul Littlewood (65+) bronze.
All four finished in gold or silver medal positions with just a solitary defeat each caused by a blunder in a near-even position, yet each of those dropped points led to a lost or drawn match.
