Chess meets Geography Trivia Quiz

Answer: French Defence

This opening got its name from a match between Paris and London in 1834, where a number of the French players used this opening.
The French Defence is generally considered a solid opening. Chances are that you'll be playing a long positional game when you play this opening.

Answer: Sicilian Defence

The Sicilian Defence was first seriously studied by Giulio Cesare Polerio from Italy back in 1594.
This opening can be quite aggressive. If your opponent plays the Sicilian Defence, you can be pretty sure that he is ready for a fight.
This opening has a huge number of variants(Najdorf, Dragon, Sveshnikov, Kalashnikov, etc).

Answer: Dutch Defence

Dutch chess player Elias Stein suggested f5 as being the best response to d4 in his book 'Nouvel essai sur le Jeu des échecs, avec des réflexions militaires relatives à ce jeu'.
The Dutch Defence is an aggressive opening for Black. It is a double-edged opening in the sense that black challenges the important e4 square right from the start, but at the same time weakens his kingside with the aggressive advancement of the f-pawn.

Answer: Spanish Opening(Ruy Lopez)

The book 'Libro del Ajedrez' written by Spanish priest and chess player Ruy López de Segura was the first systematic study of this opening.
The Spanish/Ruy Lopez Opening is an extremely theory heavy opening with a lot of different variations to explore. In general, it is considered a more calm and positional opening than, for example, the Dutch and Sicilian openings.

Answer: English Opening

Howard Staunton from England was the first notable player to play this opening way back in the 1840s, hence its name.
The English opening is a very flexible opening that can transpose into a number of different openings.
It can be used as a weapon to avoid very solid and heavily researched responses to d4(like the Slav Defence) and e4(like the Spanish/Ruy Lopez).

Answer: Scandinavian Defence

In the 19th century, a number of Scandinavian chess players started to analyse this opening.
The Scandinavian Defense, also known as Center Counter Defense, aims to undermine White's control of the center by attacking the pawn on e4 right away.
In most variations of this opening black brings out his queen early in the game, which means it can be attacked by the white pieces, so tread carefully.

Answer: Berlin Defence

If you're a chess Grandmaster and you want to play for a draw with the black pieces, you'll properly play the Berlin Defence(also known as the Berlin Wall).
It's a rock solid opening first analysed by chess players from Berlin.
The opening lived a pretty quiet life until the World Championship match in 2000.
The players were defending champion Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik both from Russia.
Kasparov was the huge favorite. Most of the chess world considered him pretty much unbeatable in match play. Especially with the white pieces, Kasparov was a beast.
However, whenever Kasparov started with e4, Kramnik unleashed the Berlin Wall(Berlin Defence) and Kasparov was simply not able to tear it down. The match ended with an 8.5 to 6.5 win for Kramnik(2 wins and 13 draws).

Answer: Scotch Opening

The name derives from a correspondence match between Edinburgh and London.
Like many other openings, this opening is about central control putting pressure on the central pawn on e5 from the get-go. The Scotch Opening also allows white rapid development of his pieces.

Answer: Budapest Gambit

The opening name comes from the first game played with these opening moves. Not surprisingly, it was played in Budapest in 1896.
Chances are that you'll not see this opening played at the very highest level. You give up a pawn - at least momentarily. At lower levels though, it can be used as a surprise weapon. Almost no one will prepare for this opening since it's played so rarely.

Answer: Catalan Opening

Named after the Catalonian region in Spain, the opening has been played at the very highest level of chess by players like former World Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik as well as current(January 2022) World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
The Catalan Opening is a positional opening where you usually don't see crazy piece sacrifices. The white king sits safely behind its pawns and the g3 bishop. The g3 bishop also seeks to control the h1-a8 diagonal.