diff --git a/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb b/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb
index d7d906b5..54a10a53 100644
--- a/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb
+++ b/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb
@@ -23,16 +23,47 @@
     "* Green\n",
     "* Blue\n",
     "\n",
-    "Note: JupyterLab and JupyterNotebook uses a different Markdown parser than nbsphinx (which currently uses Pandoc). \n",
-    "In case that your Bulletpoints do render in the notebook and do not render with nbsphinx, please add one blank line before the bulletpoints.\n",
-    "***\n",
+    "JupyterLab and JupyterNotebook use a different Markdown parser than nbsphinx\n",
+    "(which currently uses Pandoc). When using Pandoc v2.0 or later, nbsphinx uses\n",
+    "GitHub-flavored markdown, this is the same standard of markdown used by\n",
+    "JupyterLab and JupyterNotebook.\n",
     "\n",
+    "In particular, newer versions of nbsphinx (>v0.9.5) will now correctly convert\n",
+    "lists without a blank line:\n",
+    "\n",
+    "```markdown\n",
+    "No new line before this list:\n",
+    "1. One\n",
+    "2. Two\n",
+    "3. Three\n",
+    "```\n",
+    "No new line before this list:\n",
     "1. One\n",
-    "1. Two\n",
-    "1. Three\n",
+    "2. Two\n",
+    "3. Three\n",
+    "\n",
+    "\n",
+    "Arbitrary Unicode characters should be supported, e.g. łßō. Note, however, that\n",
+    "this only works if your HTML browser and your LaTeX processor provide the\n",
+    "appropriate fonts."
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "## Task Lists\n",
     "\n",
-    "Arbitrary Unicode characters should be supported, e.g. łßō.\n",
-    "Note, however, that this only works if your HTML browser and your LaTeX processor provide the appropriate fonts."
+    "nbsphinx supports GitHub-style task lists:\n",
+    "\n",
+    "```\n",
+    "- [x] Task 1\n",
+    "- [ ] Task 2\n",
+    "- [ ] Task 3\n",
+    "```\n",
+    "- [x] Task 1\n",
+    "- [ ] Task 2\n",
+    "- [ ] Task 3"
    ]
   },
   {
diff --git a/src/nbsphinx/__init__.py b/src/nbsphinx/__init__.py
index a7cd99c1..ef47dd97 100644
--- a/src/nbsphinx/__init__.py
+++ b/src/nbsphinx/__init__.py
@@ -1039,13 +1039,22 @@ def filter_func(text):
         json_data = json.loads(text, object_hook=object_hook)
         return json.dumps(json_data)
 
-    input_format = 'markdown'
-    input_format += '-implicit_figures'
     v = nbconvert.utils.pandoc.get_pandoc_version()
-    if nbconvert.utils.version.check_version(v, '1.13'):
-        input_format += '-native_divs+raw_html'
     if nbconvert.utils.version.check_version(v, '2.0'):
-        input_format += '-smart'  # Smart quotes etc. are handled by Sphinx
+        """Accodring to https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format_description.html#markdown-cells
+        the kind of markdown used by jupyter is github flavored markdown (gfm).
+
+        The gfm extension was added in 2.0
+        (https://pandoc.org/releases.html#pandoc-2.0-2017-10-29).
+        """
+        input_format = 'gfm-smart'
+    else:
+        input_format = 'markdown'
+        input_format += '-implicit_figures'
+        if nbconvert.utils.version.check_version(v, '1.13'):
+            input_format += '-native_divs+raw_html'
+        if nbconvert.utils.version.check_version(v, '2.0'):
+            input_format += '-smart'  # Smart quotes etc. are handled by Sphinx
 
     rststring = pandoc(text, input_format, 'rst', filter_func=filter_func)
     rststring = re.sub(