Isn't "Romanian Opening" one of the at least 10 names for 1 Nc3?

I cannot believe that no variation should be named after Bucharest. So many theoreticians are connected with this capital: Albin, Samarian, Ciocaltea, Marin ... - The Revista Română de Şah published fine theoretical articles. My Romanian is a bit rusty though.
 
Ciociltea/Samarian: Teoria moderna a deschiderilor in Şah, [no date], at least has something else to offer: "Indiana Damei" is Queen's Indian, "Indiana Benoni" is the [Modern] Benoni as we know it. Tartakower didn't combine existing opening names (Grünfeld-Verteidigung; Benoni; Budapester Gambit) with "Indian", but it seems that later authors sometimes chose the assimilated version.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 07/08/11 at 22:24:47:


No, I recall it was a ship on which several strong players were travelling to some tournament. But I think it's the same as the Manhattan Variation.

Some other strange and not-so-strange places that have lent their names to chess variations: Breslau; Krackow (classical Italian with Kf1); Kecskemet; Novosibirsk; Chekiabinsk. Not to mention Berlin, Vienna, Belgrade and Budapest. I don't think there's ever been a Prague Variation, though. Or a Buchurest.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 07/08/11 at 22:24:47:


I don't remember the details, but the gist of the story I read (maybe in Shereshevsky's Mastering the Endgame, which has some excellent notes on it) was that a bunch of European players analyzed it on the way over to a tournament in New York back in the early 1900's, and it was named after the ship they were on.

A good "serious" candidate should be "Clarendon Court" - does anybody here know how many people live in there?

There's another (not so serious) candidate, even winning against the Antarctica Defence and the ISS-Gambit (the Moon Opening doesn't count anyway, because it's no "place on earth"), that is the Toilet-Variation - definitely more "a place on earth" than the moon, but I wonder if it refers to a particular toilet?

Zwischenzugzwang

MNb, I know that you have a perverse relationship with Scheveningen. Resort towns are often rather sparsely populated. Scheveningen has a population of ~23,000.

The Marienbad Defense, 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Bb2, 

is named after the Czech town of Marienbad. Its population is just over 14,000.

Cambridge Springs only has a population of 2363!

There are probably other resort towns that are even smaller that have an opening named after them. This was what I found after only a few moments.

The absolute winner would be one named after a space station, the Moon, or Antarctica.

Markovich wrote on 07/08/11 at 18:41:33:

Von der Lasa once proposed that "Spanish" should be renamed "German Game", but few Germans liked the idea. An article in Deutsches Wochenschach 1915 nailed it: openings are usually named in other countries, not in the "creative" country itself. That author listed examples, e.g. for "Berlin", which were introduced by Staunton or by Jaenisch, or in France etc. His conclusion was that Germany was by no means underrepresented, and the Ruy should remain what it was. 

Look at the "distribution" of variation names from this point of view: The Berlin Pleiades had an advantage, since v. der Lasa wrote the Handbuch and corresponded with so many: Staunton in London, Kieseritzky in Paris, Van der Linde, Jaenisch, etc. - he even exchanged letters with some Americans. Calling variations after cities, countries, players becomes kind of normal practice when you are an active writer/publisher in steady exchange with others - it is a mutual give and take. Call RL 3...Nf6 after Berlin, so what to do with 3...a6? Was played in London, so... but wait, there is so much chess in London already... OK let's say it is the Morphy Variation. 

In the USA there are at least as many active players as in Germany. But the USA is relatively isolated, and so many local novelties will not find their way over the pond. In this respect it is a bit similar to the Soviet Union/Russia. I guess there are thousands of creative players who have their own opening ideas, but they have no "organ" to make these ideas known outside the country. At least nothing of the influence and status like the Wiener Schachzeitung or the German magazines (in Berlin, Leipzig) or the impressive number of British chess periodicals. - Edit: I am speaking about the 19th century + early 20th century, of course.

P.S.: The Dubuque Chess Journal 1875, p. 265, calls 3...a6 in the Ruy Lopez "New Orleans Defence".