Claudio Nunes
Italian professional bridge player (born 1968)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Claudio Nunes (born 23 March 1968)[1] is an Italian professional bridge player.
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He is a five-time world champion, a World Grand Master of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), and the WBF second-ranked player as of April 2011.[2] He is one of 10 players who have won the Triple Crown of Bridge.
Nunes was born in Rome.[citation needed] His regular partner for many years is Fulvio Fantoni, the first-ranked World Grand Master (April 2011). Fantoni-Nunes are generally regarded as one of the top pairs worldwide. They play "Fantunes", for their surnames, an innovative bidding system characterised by natural but forcing one-level opening bids in all four suits. The pair was implicated in a cheating scandal in 2015 resulting in sanctions against them.
Emigration to Monaco
Starting in 2011, Fantoni and Nunes were full-time members of a team led and paid by the Swiss real-estate tycoon Pierre Zimmermann, under contract expiring 2016. From 2012 all six members would be citizens of Monaco and the team would represent Monaco internationally.[3] The team finished third in the 2010 world championship, not yet full-time, and competed in the 2011 European Bridge League open championship (neither is a national teams event).
Cheating scandal
In September 2015, Fantoni and Nunes were publicly accused of cheating by orienting a played card to show a missing high honour (Ace, King, Queen) in the led suit at the European Bridge Championship in 2014.
- On March 19, 2016, the FIGB banned the pair for three years.
- On July 18, 2016, the European Bridge League (EBL) banned each from play for five years and as a partnership for life.[4]
- On July 26, 2016, the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) expelled them from their league and stripped them of all related masterpoints, titles, ranks and privileges.[5]
The players' appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport resulted in a judgment in their favor in January 2018.[6]
Only the ACBL sanction remains in place; all others have been overturned or expired.
Major tournament wins
Awards
- Mott-Smith Trophy (1) 2004
Wins
- Bermuda Bowl (1) 2005 [7]
- World Transnational Open Teams Championship (1) 2007 [8]
- World Open Pairs Championship (1) 2002
- World Olympiad Teams Championship (2) 2004, 2008
- European Teams Championship for Open Teams: 2004, 2006, 2012
- European Champions' Cup for Open Teams: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009
- North American Bridge Championships (10)
- Wernher Open Pairs (1) 2004 [9]
- Blue Ribbon Pairs (1) 2006 [10]
- Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 2003 [11]
- Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (1) 2004 [12]
- Reisinger (3) 2007, 2012, 2013 [13]
- Roth Open Swiss Teams (1) 2005 [14]
- Spingold (2) 2011, 2012 [15]
Runners-up
- Bermuda Bowl (3) 2003, 2009, 2013 [7]
- Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 2004 [7]
- Buffett Cup (2) 2010, 2012
- North American Bridge Championships (6)
- Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 2004 [11]
- Vanderbilt (1) 2014 [16]
- Reisinger (1) 2011 [13]
- Spingold (3) 2006, 2010, 2014 [15]
Bridge accomplishments
Awards
- Mott-Smith Trophy (1) 2004
Wins
- Bermuda Bowl (1) 2005 [7]
- World Transnational Open Teams Championship (1) 2007 [17]
- World Open Pairs Championship (1) 2002
- World Olympiad Teams Championship (2) 2004, 2008
- North American Bridge Championships (10)
- Wernher Open Pairs (1) 2004 [9]
- Blue Ribbon Pairs (1) 2006 [10]
- Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 2003 [11]
- Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams (1) 2004 [12]
- Reisinger (3) 2007, 2012, 2013 [13]
- Roth Open Swiss Teams (1) 2005 [14]
- Spingold (2) 2011, 2012 [15]
Runners-up
- Bermuda Bowl (3) 2003, 2009, 2013 [7]
- Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 2004 [7]
- Buffett Cup (2) 2010, 2012
- North American Bridge Championships (6)
- Jacoby Open Swiss Teams (1) 2004 [11]
- Vanderbilt (1) 2014 [16]
- Reisinger (1) 2011 [13]
- Spingold (3) 2006, 2010, 2014 [15]
