Chessfriend Anders Thulin, some good time back, mentioned that page 155 of The Chess Monthly, Volume 8 (1886-1887) contained "a long diatribe against the naming of Gambits and Openings, which ends..."
...The new mania among Chess-players to affix their names to some sub-sub-sub variation makes it anyhow a small honor indeed to be an inventor of an Opening, and when Labourdonnais, Anderssen, Morphy, Kolisch, Blackburne, and other good names are among the not decorated, we at least would prefer to belong to the same section and not aspire to those honours which seem to be the pride of the Dii minorum gentium [of the inferior orders]. No offense to anybody, but it is difficult enough already to know what is meant when every new year is marked with new Gambits, like Jerome, Blackmar, Pierce, Rosentreter, Qaade, &c...
2 comments:
I wonder if some of the openings were named after the publication of that article?
There is the Morphy Defence in the Ruy Lopez, the Blackburne Shilling Trap, and Anderssen's Opening (1.a3) , amongst others.
Hi Pete,
Good point. Openings we know today as being named after Morphy, Blackburne, Anderssen, etc. may have taken a while to pick up their monickers.
On the other hand, the gentleman in The Chess Monthly could have just been ranting a bit...
Rick
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