Chess openings: Bird's Opening (A02)

Bird's Opening (A02)
1 f4

Number of games in database: 901
Years covered: 1620 to 2009
Overall record:
   White wins 34.7%
   Black wins 41.4%
   Draws 23.9%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening | Search for sacrifices in this opening.

PRACTITIONERS

With the White Pieces

With the Black Pieces

Henry Edward Bird		38 games
Bent Larsen		35 games
Henrik Danielsen		17 games

Blackburne		11 games
Raymond Keene		8 games
Gerard Welling		7 games

NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]

White Wins

Black Wins

Fischer vs Smyslov, 1970

H Danielsen vs Pokorna, 2003

Bird vs K Pitschel, 1878

NN vs Du Mont, 1802

Bird vs Blackburne, 1886

Bird vs Steinitz, 1866

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page 1 of 37; games 1-25 of 901

Game Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening
1. Greco vs NN 1-0 10 1620 Miscellaneous Game A02 Bird's Opening

2. NN vs Du Mont 0-1 6 1802 Unknown A02 Bird's Opening

3. E Williams vs A Henderson 1-0 15 1845 Bristol A02 Bird's Opening

4. E Williams vs H Buckle 0-1 53 1849 London ;HCL 34 A02 Bird's Opening

5. E Lowe vs G Medley 0-1 61 1849 London ;HCL 34 A02 Bird's Opening

6. E Lowe vs H Kennedy 1-0 40 1849 London m ;HCL 34 A02 Bird's Opening

7. Horwitz vs Staunton 0-1 51 1851 6, London2 m2 A02 Bird's Opening

8. H Buckle vs Lowenthal 1-0 41 1851 **Rd--()-, London A02 Bird's Opening

9. Lowenthal vs H Buckle 1-0 56 1851 London m1 A02 Bird's Opening

10. E Williams vs Staunton 0-1 37 1851 London m6 A02 Bird's Opening

11. Staunton vs E Williams 1-0 32 1851 London m6 A02 Bird's Opening

12. Staunton vs E Williams 1-0 33 1851 London m6 A02 Bird's Opening

13. A Simons vs Smith 1-0 26 1852 Unknown A02 Bird's Opening

14. T W Barnes vs Zytogorski 1-0 59 1855 Kling's Coffee House A02 Bird's Opening

15. Cochrane vs Somacarana 1-0 44 1855 Calcutta A02 Bird's Opening

16. Cochrane vs Somacarana 0-1 27 1855 Calcutta A02 Bird's Opening

17. Cochrane vs Somacarana 0-1 26 1855 Calcutta A02 Bird's Opening

18. Bird vs Falkbeer 0-1 49 1856 London A02 Bird's Opening

19. Bird vs Falkbeer 0-1 34 1856 London A02 Bird's Opening

20. T W Barnes vs Falkbeer 1-0 37 1856 McDonnell Chess Club-f A02 Bird's Opening

21. Alkmaar vs Winkel 1-0 48 1856 City Match A02 Bird's Opening

22. H Laroche vs Morphy 0-1 49 1859 Paris A02 Bird's Opening

23. Kolisch vs Anderssen 0-1 36 1861 London A02 Bird's Opening

24. Anderssen vs Kolisch 1-0 31 1861 London A02 Bird's Opening

25. Anderssen vs Kolisch ½-½ 61 1861 London A02 Bird's Opening

page 1 of 37; games 1-25 of 901

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 13 OF 13 · Later Kibitzing >
Jul-18-07		ganstaman: That's the problem with the argument: "The Bird is sound because it's a reversed Dutch." Too many people don't trust the Dutch! If you don't mind me asking, what's your name on gameknot? I think I tried 'skylark' once but it didn't work. Maybe we could have a try at the Bird sometime? I guess it's also hard to completely accurately evaluate these positions. It's too subjective -- you think black is better (which is why you wouldn't play 1.f4) and I think white is slightly better (which is why I'm ok with playing 1.f4). But you know, if you want to really learn how to play against it as black, you should play it as white :) Seriously though -- no better way to learn an opening than by experiencing from both sides of the board. I warn you though, most who try it can't turn back!

Jul-22-07		WarmasterKron: Strange ideas in the Bird, part 2: Black plays 1...e5. An offbeat way to play against the From, inspired by Williams. click for larger view 2.Nh3!? Williams-Dettelis, Postal 1987 1.f4 e5 2.Nh3 d6 3.g3 Bxh3 4.Bxh3 exf4 5.O-O fxg3 6.hxg3 Nf6 7.e4 Be7 8.d3 Nbd7 9.Nc3 c6 10.d4 Qa5 11.Qf3 O-O 12.Bf5 Qb6 13.Be3 Qxb2 14.Bg5 Nb6 15.Rab1 Qa3 16.Rb3 Qa6 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 Nfd5 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Bxe7 Nxe7 21.Qh5+ Kg8 22.Ne4 Qc4 23.Rf4 Ng6 24.Nf6+ gxf6 25.Rxc4 Nxc4 26.exf6 Nd6 27.g4 Rfd8 28.Rh3 Ne8 29.Qh7+ Kf8 30.Qh8+ Nxh8 31.Rxh8# click for larger view Hardly a masterpiece, but an interesting game and an interesting idea that may just be bad enough for blitz. Or Gerard Welling.

Sep-04-07		Judah: Opening of the day...hasn't this been opening of the day before? So why play f4? Here's one advantage that no other move can get you: it holds open the a1-h8 diagonal (by discouraging e5). Makes a dark-bishop fianchetto a very attractive possibility. (I posted this in A03, but then I thought it fit better here.)

Sep-04-07		WarmasterKron: <Judah> The Bird is a great opening, but I wouldn't say it discourages 1...e5, which is one of the most popular ways to meet it. Maybe it would be less popular if people knew about 2.Nh3!

Sep-04-07		Judah: It discourages 1.e5 if Black is prudent. Anyway, after 1.e5, the a1-h8 diagonal is certainly open. As for 2.Nh3...are you sure you've got the right punctuation there?

Sep-04-07		Resignation Trap: 1.f4 e5 2.Nh3 d5! practically forces White to play a gambit with 3.g3 Bxh3 4.Bxh3 exf4 5.0-0. I once won a tournament game with this (as White!), but I doubt its soundness.

Sep-05-07		WarmasterKron: I suspect that if White's prepared to play 2.Nh3, he'll be happy enough with the gambit 2...d5 3.g3 Bxh3 4.Bxh3 exf4 5.O-O. <Judah> Sorry, the exclamation mark was supposed to reflect the tone of the remark rather than a comment on the move itself. I reckon it's at best !?, but probably more like ?!. An interesting suprise weapon perhaps, but not one for repeated use.

Apr-06-08		raskerino: ... so what is the refutation of the antoshin? I just started playing the bird (though I'm not a convert, I'm going back to e4 after I work out a few rough patches in my repertiore), and I've played 3 tournament games with it, I drew an 1850 in a team tournament forgetting that Danielsen's move against the recipe was 6.g4, I thought I was supposed to play 6.d3 to stop Ne4 first and he played 6... e5. The second game was against a provisional 2180 and I killed him in a leningrad type line. And my most recent game was an abysmal (on both sides) draw against a 2050, but I can't figure out what I should have done. 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.e3 (I've been taken out of the leningrad lines) 3... g6 now I'm not sure if the recipe is applicable (given that there's not pressure on d5) and I can't even take a b3 fianchetto line. 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 Bg7 and I decided that I needed to play 6.d4 and go into a stonewall. I can't stand the stonewall and have been trying to work out ways to avoid it when playing the bird, but I couldn't spot anything better here, any advice? I like the leningrad lines, I don't like being drawn out of them.

Jun-03-08		Alphastar: <raskerino> 3. Ne5 must be an improvement for sure.

Jun-25-08		HannibalSchlecter: Themofro: Should you intend to write a book, I have the cover for it. It's a close up of you flipping the bird but with your middle finger covered by a white pawn. Anyway, great commments. Keep the Bird alive!

Jun-26-08		An Englishman: Good Evening: <Alphastar>, 3.Ne5 might not be as good as it appears. Check out this game. R Van Kemenade vs G Barrenechea Bahamonde, 2007

Jul-24-08		parisattack: The Bird was the first opening I ever played, had great success with it and the corresponding good memories. But, alas, I think it is a genuinely bad first move.

Aug-18-08		BlackWaive: Opening of the day. When I first started getting serious about playing chess, Bird's Opening was my opening of choice - like Henry Bird himself, I desired to surprise my opponents and avoid their opening knowledge and preparations altogether. I'm no longer dedicated to the Bird, but it's still one of my favorite and most played openings. I treat it like a Dutch Attack - in other words, most of my games resemble a Queen's Indian Reversed with f4.

Aug-18-08		whiteshark: In Timothy Taylor's book <Bird's opening - <detailed coverage of an underrated and dynamic choice for White>> he only has 24 page on <The Leningrad Bird>. Actually he presented/analysed only six (!) games. I was really disappointed by this <dynamic <>> shortage. :(

Aug-24-08		myschkin: . . . in German: http://www.scr-kuppenheim.de/test/b...

Sep-25-08		BrownRecluse: Over at GameKnot I just got into what I think was a reversed from's. first time I've ever seen that: [Event "Mesquite Grill!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=103..."] [Date "2008.09.24"] [Round "-"] [White "brownrecluse"] [Black "madmurdoch"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1209"] [BlackElo "1234"] [TimeControl "1/259200"] [Mode "ICS"] [Termination "normal"] 1. f4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. d3 exd3 4. Bxd3 e6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bd2 O-O 8. O-O Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Nh5 10. Ne5 Nxf4 11. Qg4 Nxd3 12. cxd3 g6 13. Qh3 d6 14. Nxg6 Rxf1+ 15. Rxf1 e5 16. Qg3 Nd7 17. Ne7+ Kh8 18. Rf7 Qxe7 19. Qg7# 1-0 A rather Rara Avis.

Sep-27-08		just a kid: I found a trap in the From's gambit. 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 Qh4+ 3.g3 Be7 4.gxh4?? Bxh4#.Although this can be easily avoided by 4.Nf3!

Oct-03-08		sneaky pete: A pity we don't have any games with the Steinlach-Hobbs-Gambit 1... g5!! 2.fxg5 h6!! here.

Jan-08-09		YoungEd: Bird's Opening will always have a following amongst hack players like me for several of the same reasons that the Colle System will: 1. It can catch an unprepared opponent off guard. 2. It has easily grasped objectives (control of e5; K-side attack; etc.). 3. It is not entirely monolithic (can go for Stonewall, Q-side fianchetto, etc.). 4. There are just enough spectacular white victories to make it seem tempting! I think it's fun! I'll keep playing it.

Jan-08-09		refutor: 5. you can get the king's gambit (1.f4 e5 2.e4!) without worrying about figuring out a line v. the caro-kann, sicilian, french, etc.

Jan-08-09		MaxxLange: 1. f4 c6 1. f4 e6 1. f4 c5 1. f4 g6 1. f4 d6 etc... all are playable for Black. Black is OK! ' There is a Scandinavian player who has some good YouTube material about a so-called Bird "Polar Bear" system - seems to be aiming for a reversed Leningrad Dutch, but with some differences. I think the guy is a correspondence GM.

Feb-18-09		WhiteRook48: if Black responds 1...d5, is eco A02 also eco A03?

May-01-09		just a kid: Usually I will play the bird if I know my opponent will play the from gambit.I then play 2.e4 transposing into the king's gambit.It they play anything else I will usually go 2.Nf3,3.g3,4.Bg2,and 5.0-0 to reach a reti-like position.

Oct-02-09		tranquil simplicity: Hi MaxxLange! I believe the guy you are referring to is the Danish GM Henrik Danielsen. He is a 1.f4 Specialist though i noticed recently he switched his repertoire and is consistently playing 1.g3.

Oct-08-09		Marmot PFL: <ganstaman> It's only a reverse Dutch if black wants it to be.

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