Why is there no German opening?

Many openings are named after European countries or regions

To list a few:

Spanish, French, Sicilian, Italian, Dutch, Catalan, English, Scottish, Russian, Slav, Scandinavian.

But no German defense. 

Why not? 

The GErmans had some pretty strong players in the early days of chess.

You would expect that some main opening would be named after that country.

There is a Berlin Defence.

There is this:

https://www.chess.com/openings/Polish-Opening-German-Defense

Why is the question always about Germany but never about America?

Morphy, Fischer.

P.S. Tarrasch and Lasker were Jewish (Jews are a nation, a religio-nation)

This leaves you with? Anderssen? One candidate world champion.

EDIT -[4K]

In fact, all of those who tried, are close to dead now:

Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome.

Egypt and Babylon are just full of Arabs - they came out of The Arabian Peninsula and eliminated those nations, and a good portion of Persia as well - these were lone empires - each of them was like America + Russia + Europe.

Either destroyed, or humbled.

Let's see what happens next, interesting...

That doesn't count. It's a variation of the Polish Opening. If that counts, so does Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense.

Yeah, it would count, but Berlin is a city in Germany, not a country, so I would say that this is closer, even though it is not as popular.

Though if we look at anything geographical from Germany, then both count. So I guess it is a matter of perspective.

By the way, there are more openings named after German cities or other geographical locations. For instance:

https://www.chess.com/openings/Nimzowitsch-Defense-Scandinavian-Aachen-Gambit

https://www.chess.com/openings/Kings-Pawn-Opening-The-Whale-Bavarian-Gambit

https://www.chess.com/openings/Dresden-Opening

It's long overdue that some moderator should do the right thing and ban A_Proud_Zionist. Should have been banned weeks ago.

A follow-up question could be when did openings stop being named after countries and started being named after players?

Why, magipi, what was I writing that's so wrong?

Please, just talk to me directly, right in here, not About me.

Go ahead.

What was I saying that's inappropriate and deserves banning, magipi?

I found one! Dresden Opening

This sentence alone: "after you try to murder all the Jews," is worth a permanent ban.

Your post contains abuse, racist trolling and even a light little threat of violence.

Since you appeared here a month ago, all you ever did was abusive trolling.

Why is the answer to the Zionist's actions Hitler and not Herzl? As long you play Herzl games (Hitler minus 1 atrocities like throwing Jews in the gas chamber), you can bulldoze Americans like Rachael Corrie and commit other "less" crimes against humanity. One thing Herzl didn't realize while he was writing his theatrical plays was the internet would bring the world together to compare notes.

Look at Nathanyahu's name. It was not his real last name. His grandfather changed it. Yahu is short for Yahweh / god. Hard to deal with both sides of religious zealots.

Looks like this will come as a surprise to many folks here: Germany is a recent/young country. Even younger than the "good old" U.S.A.

There is no Germany opening. We have the Prussian Defense, and Prussland yes, was an old country. Prussian Defense is now called "Defense of the 2 Knights" because Prussland is no more, It was deleted from the map of Europe after World War 2.

I know this opening and played it a few times. Usually it leads to an English Four Knights: Nimzowitsch variation where white's knight and one of black's minor pieces are traded through a d4 pawn fork. Aronian played this novelty as black in the first round of the 2023 Grand Swiss, and even won with it against a super-grandmaster!

Thanks everyone for your reactions.

Why did I not ask: 'why is there no American defense?'

I did not ask about an American defense, because al the countries or regions that gave their names to chess openings, were in Europe.

So I assumed that's the reason there's no American defense.

Benko was Hungarian.

American defense, import players from other countries.

@Axorcist, #18...good point! Plus, America simply hasn't been around for a long time like Europe, nor does it have the chess history that Europe has. Give us another century or three and maybe we'll get an Opening or a Defense! (probably the "New York Gambit", or something like that, lol)

There is the Dragon. Kramnik's promoting of no castling could be similar to Chinese xiangqi where the king doesn't castle either.