Answers.Body: <p>Interesting question, I've noticed that as well. In a way, german and english players for instance tend to play solid and wacky stuff respectively, like in soccer. Just kidding :)</p>
  
  <p>Top GM of their countries play also an important role, <code>Trompovsky attack</code> has been popularised by John Nunn and other strong GMs, encouraging english chess school to adopt it. 
  Strong german GMs like Jan Gustaffson usually play more solid openings. But there are exceptions of course.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2017-09-21T07:28:15.303Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-09-21T07:28:15.303Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: loukios
Answers.Body: <p>Chess is a very internationalized game where geographical borders have a very limited impact on playing styles. Every strong player from any part on the world will have studied games from Capablanca, Euwe, Fischer, Kasparov and Carlsen,  and that won't make their style more Cuban, Dutch, US, Russian nor Norvegian.</p>
  
  <p>Moreover, in any big enough country, you will find very different players. Best Soviet grandmasters in the 60s where Stein, Petrosian, Smyslov, Taïmanov, Tal, Korchnoï and Spassky [<em>edit: and Geller, and Keres, and Botvinnik, and so many... I should have chosen another country as example!</em>]: but for the fact they all were super-strong players, it would be very hard to point any similarity in between their 'styles' (if such a thing even exists). If anything, their openings were very different. Later, Karpov and Kasparov were very different players too, etc...</p>
  
  <p>For a while, an excellent book published in a certain language or an excellent trainer exercing in a specific area may have had an influence on the development of players in the given area and on their choice of openings: for instance, you would meet the Tarrasch defense more often in Sweden (a Gedeon Stahlberg's legacy) and the King's Indian more often in Yugoslavia (following Svetovar Gligoric's and Boris Ivkov's example). In our era of widespread information, however, I don't think that national borders have any significative influence.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2017-09-27T08:51:04.787Z
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-09-27T09:45:03.523Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Body: <p>In chess, noting the more common countries I've played (Indian Russia, Australia, France, US,  China, Japan etc) I've noticed some similarities in their play style. Like how Japanese players, from what I've seen, play aggressive pawns; France and US play the more typical tactics, China doesn't play gambits, and overall isn't rich in strategy.</p>
  
  <p>While these may just be coincidence, Is there enough similarity within a nationality that it's notable?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-09-19T19:43:34.063Z
Comments.Text: I would put my money on coincidence (or confirmation bias).
Comments.UserDisplayName: Patrick Coulombe
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-09-19T20:25:30.210Z
Comments.Text: What number of players (per country) are we talking about?  And what is their level? Also sounds like coincidence to me. Just look at some of the top players from say Russia and you will find all kind of styles there already.
Comments.UserDisplayName: user1583209
Tags: <style>
Title: Do different nationalities have "notably" different play styles?
ThreadText: # Do different nationalities have "notably" different play styles?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-19)
  
  In chess, noting the more common countries I've played (Indian Russia, Australia, France, US, China, Japan etc) I've noticed some similarities in their play style. Like how Japanese players, from what I've seen, play aggressive pawns; France and US play the more typical tactics, China doesn't play gambits, and overall isn't rich in strategy.
  
  While these may just be coincidence, Is there enough similarity within a nationality that it's notable?
  
  **Tags:** style
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I would put my money on coincidence (or confirmation bias).  
  > **username_2**: What number of players (per country) are we talking about?  And what is their level? Also sounds like coincidence to me. Just look at some of the top players from say Russia and you will find all kind of styles there already.  
  
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  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2017-09-21. Score: 1
  
  Interesting question, I've noticed that as well. In a way, german and english players for instance tend to play solid and wacky stuff respectively, like in soccer. Just kidding :)
  
  Top GM of their countries play also an important role, `Trompovsky attack` has been popularised by John Nunn and other strong GMs, encouraging english chess school to adopt it.
  Strong german GMs like Jan Gustaffson usually play more solid openings. But there are exceptions of course.
  
  
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  ### Answer by username_4 on 2017-09-27. Score: 1
  
  Chess is a very internationalized game where geographical borders have a very limited impact on playing styles. Every strong player from any part on the world will have studied games from Capablanca, Euwe, Fischer, Kasparov and Carlsen, and that won't make their style more Cuban, Dutch, US, Russian nor Norvegian.
  
  Moreover, in any big enough country, you will find very different players. Best Soviet grandmasters in the 60s where Stein, Petrosian, Smyslov, Taïmanov, Tal, Korchnoï and Spassky [*edit: and Geller, and Keres, and Botvinnik, and so many... I should have chosen another country as example!*]: but for the fact they all were super-strong players, it would be very hard to point any similarity in between their 'styles' (if such a thing even exists). If anything, their openings were very different. Later, Karpov and Kasparov were very different players too, etc...
  
  For a while, an excellent book published in a certain language or an excellent trainer exercing in a specific area may have had an influence on the development of players in the given area and on their choice of openings: for instance, you would meet the Tarrasch defense more often in Sweden (a Gedeon Stahlberg's legacy) and the King's Indian more often in Yugoslavia (following Svetovar Gligoric's and Boris Ivkov's example). In our era of widespread information, however, I don't think that national borders have any significative influence.
  
  
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