The Nomenclature of Chess Opening
Monday, 24. August 2009
During the end of the fifteenth century, major alterations in the regulations of chess took place which heightened the speed of the game, consequently highlighting the significance of studying chess openings. One of the earliest about opening was the 0497 text by Luis Ramirez which presents an analysis, followed by works of Luis Ramirez de Lucena and Ruy López de Segura. The disagreement of Ruy López with Damiano’s merit of 2…Nc6 led to 3.Bb5, which was later named after Ruy Lopez or Spanish Opening. Starting the 1840s onwards, opening theory was studied more systematically and various opening variations were found and named at that time. Opening classification developed randomly and most names are historical incidents not from systematic principles.
The oldest openings tend to be called after geographic laces and notable people. Many were named after nationalities and cities, including English, Dutch, Vienna and Berlin. The name Catalan System was based on the Catalan region of Spain. But the most common basis of opening names are the names of chess players, not from the ones who first adopted it but to the player who made it popular or the ones who first printed an analysis of it. Examples of these eponymy names are Alekhine’s Defense, Ruy Lopez, the Réti Opening and Morphy Defense. Some names served as an honor for two people and some are descriptive, which are less popular type of chess opening names compared to other names. There are also openings with fanciful names, oftentimes these are based on animal names. This idea emerges and become popular during the 20th century. From then on, most usual and conventional series of opening tactics were given specific names. Some of the latest and extraordinary developed openings are the Hippopotamus, Orangutan, and Hedgehog.
As technology advances and the new generations are becoming more creative and imaginative, different terms for openings were also introduced. The popular terms are Defense, Gambit, Game, and Variation while the less common are Attack, Counterattack, System, Countergambit, Reversed, and Inverted. Defense, at all times, points to an opening made by Black and Gambit is an opening that requires giving up a material, which can be played by both White and Black. The word Game is usually used merely for a few of the oldest openings like Scotch Game, Four Knight Game and Vienna Game while Variation is used to depict a line within a more broad opening including the Exchange Variaton of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. On the other hand, attack, at times, is utilized to describe a destructive or provocative variation while Counter gambit refers to every gambit played by Black. Reversed an inverted is a game with Black opening played by White, or more seldom a White opening PLAYED by Black, examples include Sicilian Reversed and the Inverted Hungarian.
Only few openings are prefixed with the word Anti, such openings are designed to avoid a specific line if not existing to one’s competitor. Examples of such openings are the Anti-Marshall and the Anti-Meran Gambit, which disagreed with the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez and against the Meran Variation of the Semi-Siav Defense, respectively.
