Chess Openings

Analyzing chess openings goes back at least to the 1400s. Throughout the centuries, variety of names got attached to various openings. There was no systematic order to the way these names were adopted. Most openings in addition to their specific name also have a term indicating some sort of categorization; Defense, Gambit, System etc.

We will first look at the broad categorizations indicated by names of openings.

When a chess opening has the word “Opening” attached to it that generally means White will initiate its distinguishing sequence of moves. In contrast when the word “Defense” is given to an opening that means it is the Black who will initiate the particular sequence of moves that characterizes the opening. However many openings are named in other ways as well.

Openings called “Games”, such as Four Knights Game, Scotch Game, and Vienna Game, tend to be some of the oldest analyzed. Another popular term “Variation” generally describes a particular branched line within another opening, such as the Exchange Variation within the Queen’s Gambit Declined Opening.

“Gambit” openings, as the name implies, involve sacrifice of pawns or even pieces during the opening. Both White and Black can select Gambit openings; King’s Gambit for White, and Latvian Gambit (or Greco Counter Gambit to give its former name) for Black, for instance. Most gambit openings can be further divided depending on whether the other side accepts or declines the offered gambit; Queen's Gambit Accepted and Queen's Gambit Declined.

Some gambit opening do not involve sacrifice of material in any meaningful way since the material is regained quite quickly within the opening sequence, as in some variations of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. When Black offers another gambit in reply to the gambit offered up by the White, such an opening is termed “Counter gambit”. Examples for this kind of play include Falkbeer Countergambit in reply to the King's Gambit and Albin Countergambit in reply to Queen's Gambit.

When the opening is termed a “System” it usually implies an opening with many responses to opposing side’s moves as in Réti System, and Colle System.

Openings termed “Attacks” usually indicate an opening containing belligerent moves or moves aimed at provoking the opponent; Albin-Chatard Attack, Fried Liver Attack. However this is not necessarily the case as in King's Indian Attack or Durkin's Attack both of which are not particularly aggressive.

In some openings the resulting positions will resemble those that can be adopted by the other side in another opening but with colors reversed. They are appropriately called “Reversed” or “Inverted” openings, for instance the Sicilian Reversed and the Inverted Hungarian openings.

For some openings where moves are made expressly to deny the possibility of a particular variation to the opponent, the prefix “Anti-” is used. For instance, in Anti-Marshall opening Marshall (Counter) Attack is avoided and Anti-Meran Gambit can be used to avoid the Meran Variation.

Now we will look at the reasons behind specific names of openings.

Many Openings are called by a geographic area due to variety of historical reasons. Spanish Opening (also known as Ruy Lopez) is called such because Ruy López de Segura, a sixteenth century Spanish author advocated its merits. Other geographic names such as English, French, Dutch, Scotch, Italian, Vienna, and Sicilian, are used because players from that region used them or because of tournaments where that opening became popular was held there or some such reason

When a player popularizes or engages in detailed analysis of a particular opening that player’s name will get attached to it. Alekhine Defense, Réti System, Morphy Defense, and Caro-Kann Opening are good examples of this kind of name.

Other openings are straightforward descriptions of the distinguishing characteristics of the opening; Two Knights Defense, Giuoco Piano or “Quiet game”, and Queen’s Gambit for instance.

There is a tendency to call more modern openings by animal names or other curious names; Elephant, and Hedgehog for instance.

It is clear that these names are not particularly systematic. That is why text books and databases on Chess use other methods of classification such as ECO codes or openings classified by the opening moves.

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