Claudio Nunes (born 23 March 1968)[1] is an Italian professional bridge player.

Claudio Nunes (2014)

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

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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

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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

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Awards

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Wins

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Runners-up

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Bridge accomplishments

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Awards

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Wins

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Runners-up

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References

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  1. ^ "NUNES Claudio". Athlete Information. SportAccord World Mind Games. December 2014. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  2. ^ Open Classification Archived 27 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, World Bridge Federation. Confirmed 2010-11-07.
  3. ^ "Helgeness and Fantunes Immigrate to Monaco" Archived 12 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, BridgeTopics.com, 14 December 2010. Originally published in Norwegian: Alf Helge Jensen, "Helgeness skal spille for Monaco", Bridge i Norge (ed. Boye Brogeland), 13 December 2010. Confirmed 2011-08-23.
  4. ^ "European Bridge League Disciplinary Committee ruling regarding Fantoni and Nunes, July 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Report of the ACBL Ethical Oversight Committee" (PDF). Daily Bulletin. 88 (5). ACBL: 1. 26 July 2016.
  6. ^ CAS 2016/A/4783 Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes v. European Bridge League (EBL) Retrieved 3 February 2018
  7. ^ a b c d e f World Team Championship Winners
  8. ^ World Transational Open Teams Winners Archived 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b "Wernher Open Pairs Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 22 July 2014. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  10. ^ a b "Blue Ribbon Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 3 December 2013. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  11. ^ a b c d "Jacoby Open Swiss Previous Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 29 March 2014. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  12. ^ a b "Mitchell BAM Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 1 December 2013. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  13. ^ a b c d "Reisinger Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 6 December 2013. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  14. ^ a b "Roth Open Swiss Previous Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 26 July 2014. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  15. ^ a b c d "Spingold Previous Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 21 July 2014. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  16. ^ a b "Vanderbilt Previous Winners" (PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 24 March 2014. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
  17. ^ World Transnational Open Teams Winners Archived 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
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