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Henry Bird vs Ernst Falkbeer
Match (1856), London ENG
Bird Opening: Dutch Variation (A03)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-11-05  RookFile: Bird was way ahead of his time,
Aron Nimzovich would later copy his
piece setup, but play it with
black 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4.

Here is Bird playing this plan with
white instead, as early as 1856.
Too bad he ruins it with a tactical
oversight.

Aug-10-06  sneaky pete: 20.Nxg6 .. wins (Anderssen & Dufresne). 20... hxg6 21.Rxg6+ Ng7 22.Qh6 Rf7 (.. Bd8 23.Rxg7+ Qxg7 24.Qxe6+ ..) 23.Rf3 .. etc.
Jul-20-07  simonwilms: i like the birds opening but Birds overall winning record discourages me to use it. Was it because he was a bad player or because he almost always used this opening?
Jul-21-07  ganstaman: <simonwilms> Well, Bird was certainly an innovator, and so he was trying out new ideas a lot, figuring them out and making mistakes for us. There's 1.f4, 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4, and I also think 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. b4 Bb6 6. d3 -- all named after Bird.

He also liked to attack a lot, probably more than he should have. It didn't seem to work out for him as well as it did for Morphy, but we still know his name today, so it worked enough.

If you want to play the Bird, then there is some great material (though some is repetitive) that will renew your confidence:

1) Henry Edward Bird

2) Bird's Opening (A02)

3) www.videochess.net

4) User: Themofro

Good luck!

Jan-30-08  HNP: 13..a5! is very nice, stopping counterplay based on b3-b4. It's surprising how quickly White's rook gets in trouble after 18.Rh6. A splendid defence and counterattack by Falkbeer.
Apr-01-08  Knight13: 18...f5!! is niceR than 13...a5.
Feb-03-10  rich187113: After 1.f4, d5, Nf3 I prefer Bg4 as black.

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