Where does the term "Indian" derive?

[Richard James]

I don't think anybody knows for sure why, when, or who first used the term Indian.

From Wikipedia:

The earliest known use of the term "Indian Defence" was in 1884, and the name was attributed to the opening's use by the Indian player Moheschunder Bannerjee against John Cochrane.[1] Philip W. Sergeant describes Moheschunder as having been as of 1848 "a Brahman in the Mofussil—up country, as we might say—who had never been beaten at chess!"[2] Sergeant wrote in 1934 (substituting algebraic notation for his descriptive notation):[3]
The Indian Defences by g6 coupled with d6, or b6 coupled with e6, were largely taught to European players by the example of Moheschunder and other Indians, to whom the fianchetto developments were a natural legacy from their own game. The fondness for them of the present Indian champion of British chess, Mir Sultan Khan, is well known. But they are now so widely popular that Dr. S. G. Tartakover was able to declare, some years ago, that "to-day fianchettos are trumps." A sequel hardly to have been anticipated from the discovery of Moheschunder in the Mofussil!
In the following game, Moheschunder (Black) plays the Grünfeld Defence against Cochrane in 1855—some 38 years before Ernst Grünfeld was born. John Cochrane-Moheschunder Bannerjee, May 1855 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Be2 Nxc3 8.bxc3 c5 9.O-O cxd4 10.cxd4 Nc6 11.Bb2 Bg4 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.Ba3 Qa5 14.Qb3 Rfe8 15.Rc5 Qb6 16.Rb5 Qd8 17.Ng5 Bxe2 18.Nxf7 Na5 and White mates in three (19.Nh6+ double check Kh8 20.Qg8+ Rxg8 21.Nf7#).[4][5] Another of the games between these players transposed to what would today be called the Four Pawns Attack against the King's Indian Defence. This time Moheschunder, as Black, won after some enterprising (and perhaps dubious) sacrificial play: 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.f4 O-O 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Bd3? e5! 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.d5 Nxe4!? 10.Nxe4 f5 11.Neg5 e4 12.Ne6 exf3! 13.Nxd8?! fxg2 14.Rg1 Bxd1 15.Ne6 Bg4 16.Nxf8 Kxf8 17.Rxg2 Nd7 18.Bf4 Nc5 19.Kd2 Rc8 20.Kc2 Bf3 21.Rf2 Nxd3 22.Kxd3 Be4+ 23.Ke3 b5 24.cxb5 Bxd5 25.Rd2 Bc4 26.Rad1 Bf6 27.Bh6+ Kg8 28.Kf4 Re8 29.b3 Bxb5 30.Rc1 Be2! 31.Re1 Re4+ 32.Kg3 Bh4+ 0-1[6]

Notes

^ "Indian Defence", Chess Player's Chronicle: p. 172, 22 October 1884, retrieved 2008-07-22 In this case the opening moves were 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6.
^ Philip W. Sergeant, A Century of British Chess, David McKay, 1934, p. 68.
^ Sergeant, pp. 68-69.
^ Edward Winter, Kings, Commoners and Knaves: Further Chess Explorations, Russell Enterprises, Inc., 1999, p. 141. ISBN 1888690-04-6.
^ Cochrane-Moheschunder
^ Tim Harding, A History of The City of London Chess Magazine (Part 1). Retrieved on 2009-03-18.

[Geoff Chandler]

"....so why is the Nimzo Indian an Indian defence if it doesn't have a tepee?"

That's easy to answer, Nimzovitch was not a red Indian.

Another little known fact underlying the red Indian's influence on modern chess.
The Cheyenne played the Caro Kann.
(it's how it got it's name, trust me on this, I know these things.)

By the way...after 3...Bb4 Blackburne notes in his game v Englisch London 1883.
(Game 128 in Blackburne's book, JHB is Black.)



"Not much good comes of this. The best place for the Bishop is at e7."

The game in question is noted up here....

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread ... gpostid=65

.....along with Chigorin setting a diabolical trap against Skipworth and a couple
of hilarious postions where players have given a check only to be checkmated
on the very next move.

[Philip Adams]

A quick one question quiz for everyone :

What is the historical root of the word "Indian" when used to describe an Indian type defence?

You'll find a lot discussion and information about this at

http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Y ... 972666/all