English Chess Forum

The following post by Leonard Barden in another thread got me thinking:

I actually first named 1 e4 e5 2 f4 the Cutty Sark Attack, in honour of the then Grand Prix sponsor. When Cutty Sark's backing ended and was replaced by the waste management firm Leigh Interests (where David Anderton was a director) the opening's name metamorphosed to Grand Prix Attack.

Are there any examples of opening variations that have been named after a company, and where the name has stuck, rather than a person or geographical location?

The nearest is Kalashnikov, which is a commercial name.

So that variation is not named after a player by the name of Kalashnikov, but rather the inventor of the AK-47 and AK-74? Would that have anything to do with the fact that the pawn formation d6-e5 could be seen as resembling the characteristically curved magazine of those models?

If we are going obscure there's the Nescafe Frappe attack in the Benko Gambit : 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.Nc3 axb5 6.e4 b4 7.Nb5 etc

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 Bxc3 5. bxc3 f5 has been referred to as the Beefeater, though where and how and why these things got their names I'm not sure.

Does anyone know why its name changed from The Labourdonnais-Lowenthal Variation?

John Upham wrote:Does anyone know why its name changed from The Labourdonnais-Lowenthal Variation?

John,

Isn't it the case that the Loewenthal refers to the very old variation, in which White is invited to drop his knight onto d6, whereas in Sveshnikov's Koleshnikov variation, Black forestalls this eventuality by playing d6 himself, i.e. 1. e4 c5; 2. Nf3 Nc6; 3. d4 cxd4; 4. Nxd4 e5; 5. Nb5, then 5... a6 is referred to as the Loewenthal, whilst 5... d6, is referred to as the Koleshnikov?

Regards,
Paul.