user11068: Why are a few chess openings named King's Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Defense, Nimzo-Indian defense, and so on?
What is the significance of Indian in all these opening names? What's India's contribution to it?

user17: In "Indian" defenses, Black holds back his center pawns, especially his d-pawn, against a White 1. d4. This "Indian" style is in contrast to the European style of opposing 1. d4 with 1. ... d5, and 1. e4 with 1. ... e5.
Instead, Black opts to contest White's control of the center from the side. In the King's and Queen's Indian defenses, this means moving g6 or b6 respectively, and "fianchettoing" a bishop along the "long" diagonal. In the Nimzo-Indian defense (Nimzo stands for Aron Nimzowich), it means playing B b4 after e6. But the idea is to oppose White's d4 with c5 and not d5.

user29983: Indian Castling is derived from Shatranjan ( Not Shatranj ). ShadYantra is the actual game from which more advanced form of game called Shatranjan was derived by Kautilya (*Chanakya) some 2300 yrs ago. Chaturanga and Shatranj are variants.
In Shatranjan, Kings can move like Knights with the help of Royal and Semi Royal Aids. But in modern chess there are no Royal and Semi Royal pieces.

user-1: Chess has evolved from the Indian game Shatranj. In early versions of Shatranj, the starting positions included the fianchetto, which is common in all of the modern chess openings you listed. This is why these openings have the word Indian in them.
See also Did Indian systems really have fianchettos?

user11629: In many cases, openings are named after a notable first master game (or games). The master or country does not necessarily must have contributed to it. Apparently in the case of Indian openings (1. d4 Nf6), they are named after Moheschunder Bannerjee. See the Wikipedia article on Indian defence.

user14079: In Indian Chess, the game that was played in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries in India (not to be confused with its ancestor Chaturanga), the rules allowed no castle, and double-step pawn moves were not allowed but:

The king can make a knight's move once in a game, known as Indian castling.

As a consequence, g3 followed by Kg2 for White or ...b6 followed by ...Kb7 (the black king stands on d8 at the beginning of the game in Indian chess) were very common moves in the opening, since it was the fastest way to bring the king towards the corner where it will usually find the most safety.
Of course, playing g3, b3 or ...b6, ...g6 could also be followed by a "normal" fianchetto with the camel (our bishop).
When Indian players started playing western chess (during colonization), they quite naturally used a lot of fianchettoes, since they are common in Indian Chess. As explained in user1583209's answer, that was the case for Moheschunder Bannerjee in his games against Cochrane around 1850:

The Indian Defences by P-KKt3 coupled with P-Q3, or P-QKt3 coupled with P-K3, 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. It is notable that many of Bannerjee's openings were based on single pawn moves, the "legacy" mentioned by Sergeant, as in the rules of Indian chess.

The Chess Player's Chronicle used the term "Indian defense" to refer to 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 after him about 30 years later (1884). This is the first documented use of the appelation about that kind of defense with fianchetto - although "Indian Opening" appeared earlier to refer to 1.e4 e5 2.d3.
The term "Indian Defense" as we understand it today (After 1.d4 Nf6, thus excluding Pirc-Ufimsev and other schemes with e4 and not c4 for White) established itself after WWI, its use being popularized by Savielly Tartakower and Hans Kmoch.

11068: <p>Why are a few chess openings named King's <em>Indian</em> Defense, Queen's <em>Indian</em> Defense, Nimzo-<em>Indian</em> defense, and so on?</p>

<p>What is the significance of <em>Indian</em> in all these opening names? What's India's contribution to it?</p>
 17: <p>In "Indian" defenses, Black holds back his center pawns, especially his d-pawn, against a White 1. d4. This "Indian" style is in contrast to the European style of opposing 1. d4 with 1. ... d5, and 1. e4 with 1. ... e5.</p>

<p>Instead, Black opts to contest White's control of the center from the side. In the King's and Queen's Indian defenses, this means moving g6 or b6 respectively, and "fianchettoing" a bishop along the "long" diagonal. In the Nimzo-Indian defense (Nimzo stands for Aron Nimzowich), it means playing B b4 after e6. But the idea is to oppose White's d4 with c5 and not d5.</p>
 29983: <p>Indian Castling is derived from Shatranjan ( Not Shatranj ). ShadYantra is the actual game from which more advanced form of game called Shatranjan was derived by Kautilya (*Chanakya) some 2300 yrs ago. Chaturanga and Shatranj are variants.</p>
<p>In Shatranjan, Kings can move like Knights with the help of Royal and Semi Royal Aids. But in modern chess there are no Royal and Semi Royal pieces.</p>
 -1: <p>Chess has evolved from the Indian game <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatranj" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Shatranj</a>. In early versions of Shatranj, the starting positions included the fianchetto, which is common in all of the modern chess openings you listed. This is why these openings have the word Indian in them.</p>

<p>See also <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/q/720/1108">Did Indian systems really have fianchettos?</a></p>
 11629: <p>In many cases, openings are named after a notable first master game (or games). The master or country does not necessarily must have contributed to it. Apparently in the case of Indian openings (1. d4 Nf6), they are named after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moheschunder_Bannerjee" rel="noreferrer">Moheschunder Bannerjee</a>. See the Wikipedia article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Defence" rel="noreferrer">Indian defence</a>.</p>
 14079: <p>In <a href="https://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/hindustani.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Indian Chess</a>, the game that was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_chess" rel="nofollow noreferrer">played</a> in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries in India (not to be confused with its ancestor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chaturanga</a>), the rules allowed no castle, and double-step pawn moves were not allowed but:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The king can make a knight's move once in a game, known as Indian castling.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a consequence, g3 followed by Kg2 for White or ...b6 followed by ...Kb7 (the black king stands on d8 at the beginning of the game in Indian chess) were very common moves in the opening, since it was the fastest way to bring the king towards the corner where it will usually find the most safety.</p>
<p>Of course, playing g3, b3 or ...b6, ...g6 could also be followed by a &quot;normal&quot; fianchetto with the camel (our bishop).</p>
<p>When Indian players started playing western chess (during colonization), they quite naturally used a lot of fianchettoes, since they are common in Indian Chess. As explained in user1583209's answer, that was the case for Moheschunder <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moheschunder_Bannerjee" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bannerjee</a> in his games against Cochrane around 1850:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Indian Defences by P-KKt3 coupled with P-Q3, or P-QKt3 coupled with P-K3, 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. It is notable that many of Bannerjee's openings were based on single pawn moves, the &quot;legacy&quot; mentioned by Sergeant, as in the rules of Indian chess.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/earliest.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Chess Player's Chronicle</a> used the term &quot;Indian defense&quot; to refer to 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 after him about 30 years later (1884). This is the first documented use of the appelation about that kind of defense with fianchetto - although &quot;Indian Opening&quot; appeared earlier to refer to 1.e4 e5 2.d3.</p>
<p>The term &quot;Indian Defense&quot; as we understand it today (After 1.d4 Nf6, thus excluding Pirc-Ufimsev and other schemes with e4 and not c4 for White) established itself after WWI, its use being popularized by Savielly Tartakower and Hans Kmoch.</p>
