Answers.Body: <p>There's a variety of reasons why openings are commonly named after nations (but <em>most</em> commonly would surprise me), maybe due to an individual player of the nation, e.g. Spanish (Ruy Lopez), English (Staunton), maybe due to a group of players in one nation e.g. Italian, maybe due to an event involving the nation e.g. Scotch (named for a correspondence match between Edinburgh and London in the 1800s), and I suspect a number of other reasons, including "we don't really know"</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_openings_named_after_places" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia list of chess openings named after places</a> might be a good place to start researching this</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-03-27T13:50:43.927Z
Answers.Text: Another good reference is the book _Chess Opening Names: The Fascinating & Entertaining History Behind the First Few Moves_.
Answers.UserDisplayName: itub
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Answers.CreationDate: 2020-03-28T14:56:11.467Z
Answers.Text: Examples from the book mentioned by @ithb  English  - because Staunton pioneered it.  Scotch - From a Scottish - English club match started in 1824 where the Scotts used this opening.  French - Match between London and Paris 1834.  Paris won with the novelty 1. ..e6.  The book is humorous and contains no games.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael West
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Answers.CreationDate: 2020-03-27T09:01:16.767Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-03-27T14:28:54.197Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-03-27T14:28:54.197Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ian Bush
Body: <p>This has been bothering me from when I was little. Why are openings most commonly named after a country? For example: Sicilian, Scotch, Spanish, etc...</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-03-27T08:53:19.750Z
Comments.Text: @IanBush I think your comment is a very good answer. The only thing I might add to it, and feel free to use this, is that sometimes they are also named after a place where a tournament took place (the Catalan I think). You should really move your comments to an answer as they are a good one, in my opinion.
Comments.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-03-27T08:56:00.110Z
Comments.Text: Also, especially looking at that link you just provided, there are so many that it shows that the questions is so broad that your answer is a very good general answer. No one would expect every opening's origin to be explained, and that is a good overall answer that could be applied to many of the other openings.
Comments.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-03-28T03:33:26.737Z
Comments.Text: Is Sicily considered a country?
Comments.UserDisplayName: corsiKa
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-03-28T10:46:51.207Z
Comments.Text: Quite possibly Sicily was a country when the opening was "invented"!
Comments.UserDisplayName: Ian Bush
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-03-28T18:47:28.577Z
Comments.Text: Oh oops, I didn't check if it's actually a country.
Comments.UserDisplayName: nishantc1527
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-03-29T10:53:25.460Z
Comments.Text: Sicily was one of the states that later became unified as Italy.
Comments.UserDisplayName: djnavas
Tags: <opening>
Title: Why Are Openings Named After Countries?
ThreadText: # Why Are Openings Named After Countries?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-03-27)
  
  This has been bothering me from when I was little. Why are openings most commonly named after a country? For example: Sicilian, Scotch, Spanish, etc...
  
  **Tags:** opening
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: @IanBush I think your comment is a very good answer. The only thing I might add to it, and feel free to use this, is that sometimes they are also named after a place where a tournament took place (the Catalan I think). You should really move your comments to an answer as they are a good one, in my opinion.  
  > **username_1**: Also, especially looking at that link you just provided, there are so many that it shows that the questions is so broad that your answer is a very good general answer. No one would expect every opening's origin to be explained, and that is a good overall answer that could be applied to many of the other openings.  
  > **username_2**: Is Sicily considered a country?  
  > **username_3**: Quite possibly Sicily was a country when the opening was "invented"!  
  > **username_0**: Oh oops, I didn't check if it's actually a country.  
  > **username_4**: Sicily was one of the states that later became unified as Italy.  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2020-03-27. Score: 18 | Accepted answer
  
  There's a variety of reasons why openings are commonly named after nations (but *most* commonly would surprise me), maybe due to an individual player of the nation, e.g. Spanish (Ruy Lopez), English (Staunton), maybe due to a group of players in one nation e.g. Italian, maybe due to an event involving the nation e.g. Scotch (named for a correspondence match between Edinburgh and London in the 1800s), and I suspect a number of other reasons, including "we don't really know"
  
  [Wikipedia list of chess openings named after places](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_openings_named_after_places) might be a good place to start researching this
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: Another good reference is the book _Chess Opening Names: The Fascinating & Entertaining History Behind the First Few Moves_.  
  > **username_6**: Examples from the book mentioned by @ithb  English  - because Staunton pioneered it.  Scotch - From a Scottish - English club match started in 1824 where the Scotts used this opening.  French - Match between London and Paris 1834.  Paris won with the novelty 1. ..e6.  The book is humorous and contains no games.  
  
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