The chess games of Henry Edward Bird

Bird

Henry Edward Bird
Number of games in database: 472
Years covered: 1849 to 1903
Overall record: +168 -224 =69 (43.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      11 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS

With the White pieces:

Bird's Opening (91)
    A03 A02
Ruy Lopez (36)
    C65 C77 C84 C64 C67
French Defense (23)
    C00 C13 C11 C01 C10
French (20)
    C00 C13 C11 C10
Giuoco Piano (16)
    C53 C50
Evans Gambit (10)
    C51 C52

With the Black pieces:

Sicilian (49)
    B34 B21 B73 B46 B23
Ruy Lopez (27)
    C61 C80 C63 C77
King's Gambit Accepted (25)
    C35 C33 C39 C37
French Defense (24)
    C00 C13 C10 C01 C11
Sicilian Dragon (20)
    B34 B73 B72
French (18)
    C00 C13 C10 C11

Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Bird vs Lasker, 1892 1-0
   NN vs Bird, 1850 0-1
   Bird vs NN, 1869 1-0
   Bird vs Steinitz, 1867 1-0
   Bird vs Pinkerley, 1850 1-0
   G MacDonnell vs Bird, 1874 0-1
   Bird vs J Mason, 1876 1-0
   Bird vs Englisch, 1883 1/2-1/2
   Bird vs K Pitschel, 1878 1-0
   Bird vs Blackburne, 1879 1-0

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Challenger Bird by Gottschalk
   BIRD On The Bird's Opening-n-The Bird-Defence by saveyougod
   Interesting Games by Henry Bird by Knight13
   Vienna 1873 by suenteus po 147
   Paris 1878 by suenteus po 147
   Philadelphia 1876 by suenteus po 147

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Henry Edward Bird
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HENRY EDWARD BIRD
(born Jul-14-1830, died Apr-11-1908) United Kingdom

[what is this?]

Henry Edward Bird was born in 1830 in Portsea, Hampshire, in England. At the age of 21 he was invited to the London (1851) tournament. Bird lost to Paul Morphy at age 28 but continued to play chess for more than 50 years.

Bird was also an author and an accountant, brilliant at both. He wrote a book entitled "Chess History and Reminiscences". Today, he has his name attached to one of the more interesting openings, the Bird Opening*, which leads with 1.f4.

*Wikipedia article: Bird's Opening

notes: Henry occasionally played consultation chess on the teams of Bird / Zukertort, Bird / Blackburne, Bird / Dobell, Bird & H Chesire, Blackburne / Bird / MacDonnell, Bird & H Tenchard, Bird / Winawer / Blackburne, Zukertort / Bird / Hoff, Bird / Hewitt, Colborne / Bird, Allen & Bird, Bird & Womersley & Bird / Allies.

page 1 of 19; games 1-25 of 472

Game	Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. Bird vs G Medley	0-1	29	1849	London	C00 French Defense
2. G Medley vs Bird	1-0	47	1849	London	D35 Queen's Gambit Declined
3. Bird vs G Medley	0-1	24	1849	London m2	C01 French, Exchange
4. Bird vs G Medley	1-0	33	1849	London	C00 French Defense
5. G Medley vs Bird	1-0	53	1849	London ;HCL 34	C01 French, Exchange
6. G Medley vs Bird	1-0	52	1849	London	D35 Queen's Gambit Declined
7. Bird vs G Medley	1-0	63	1849	London ;HCL 34	B45 Sicilian, Taimanov
8. G Medley vs Bird	1-0	42	1849	London	A13 English
9. G Medley vs Bird	1-0	36	1849	London ;HCL 34	A85 Dutch, with c4 & Nc3
10. Bird vs G Medley	1-0	21	1849	London	C00 French Defense
11. Bird vs A Simons	1-0	50	1850	London	C64 Ruy Lopez, Classical
12. Bird vs Pinkerley	1-0	24	1850	London	000 Chess variants
13. NN vs Bird	0-1	15	1850	ENG	C45 Scotch Game
14. Bird vs J Smith	1-0	21	1850	London	C64 Ruy Lopez, Classical
15. Bird vs Anderssen	1-0	44	1851	London	C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
16. Horwitz vs Bird	1-0	18	1851	London	C01 French, Exchange
17. Horwitz vs Bird	1-0	55	1851	London	B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
18. Bird vs Horwitz	0-1	35	1851	London m	C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
19. Bird vs Horwitz	½-½	45	1851	London m	C41 Philidor Defense
20. Horwitz vs Bird	1-0	36	1851	London m	C39 King's Gambit Accepted
21. Horwitz vs Bird	½-½	54	1851	London	A10 English
22. Horwitz vs Bird	1-0	63	1851	London m	B44 Sicilian
23. Bird vs Horwitz	1-0	61	1851	London m	C67 Ruy Lopez
24. Bird vs Horwitz	0-1	38	1851	London m	C41 Philidor Defense
25. Horwitz vs Bird	1-0	24	1851	London m	C41 Philidor Defense


page 1 of 19; games 1-25 of 472

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

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 9 OF 9 · Later Kibitzing>
Jan-23-10		Knight13: <GrahamClayton> Bird was already dead by the time Wren got any good. Speaking of shifting time periods, I'd go with "Shame that Capablanca never played Morphy."

Jan-25-10		TheTamale: This guy claims Bird played a correspondence game against Charles Darwin. Either this is complete fabrication (likely), or Darwin was a dismal player indeed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-e5...

Jan-25-10		Knight13: <TheTamale> Fabrication. If Darwin was so confident he would've challenged someone stronger. Besides, if that game really happened, when did it take place? Did not say. It's completely bull...

Jan-25-10		TheTamale: <Knight13> Agree; the guy gives no pertinent details. I just thought it was odd he chose Henry Bird as the opponent instead of someone more famous.

Jan-27-10		Knight13: <I just thought it was odd he chose Henry Bird as the opponent instead of someone more famous.> That guy probably just did a quick search and chose Bird because Bird, like Darwin, was from England. But, seriously, aside from not giving much details, he said "beat Bird at his own game." That quote really gives him away lol.... He must've thought "chess master" as "master of chess" for him to say that. Clearly a fabrication.

Jul-14-10		talisman: happy birthday henry, nothing wrong with hearing the beat of an f4 drum.

Jul-14-10		redlance: hAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY BIRD

Aug-10-10		Dredge Rivers: I prefer his brother, Larry!

Sep-22-10		dmillergp: should be remembered that the 43 percent win percentage is of course no where near accurate, The vast majority of his games not against top 10 players have been lost

Oct-26-10		whiteshark: Quote of the Day "It is Bird we love. His victories glitter, his errors are magnificent." -- H.G. Wells

Jun-13-11		mworld: < whiteshark: Quote of the Day "It is Bird we love. His victories glitter, his errors are magnificent." -- H.G. Wells > Again even!

Aug-27-11		russep: According to this page Bird died in 1908 however he was still playing chess up to 1941 so I am a bit confused and to which is actually true.

Sep-20-11		Antiochus: Spanish notation ASTHER-BIRD Londres, 1858 Apertura escocesa 0-1 1.e4 e5 2.Cf3 Cc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Cxd4 Dh4 5.Cb5 Ac5 6. Df3 Cf6 7.Cc7+ Rd8 8. Cxa8 Te8 9.Ad3 Cxe4 10.0-0 A cambio de una torre, las negras han conseguido una buena ubicaci�n de sus piezas para el asalto al enroque 10... Cxf2! Segundo sacrificio que permitir� la entrada de la torre al campo de su rival la clave de la combinaci�n. 11.Txf2 Te1+ 12.Af1 Cd4! La clave de la combinaci�n. 13.Dxf7 Y aqu� las negras anunciaron mate en tres. 13...Cxe2+ 14.Rh1 Txf1+! 15.Txf1 Cg3++ Mate de Bird. See http://ajedrezdeataque2.blogspot.co...

Sep-20-11		Gregor Samsa Mendel: <russep>--The last four games on this page must belong to another species of Bird.

Sep-20-11		perfidious: <Gregor Samsa Mendel: <russep>--The last four games on this page must belong to another species of Bird.> Why, I can't imagine what you mean; he was only away for three days!

Sep-20-11		FSR: The last four games appear to have been played by an Australian woman in 1935-41. Henry Edward Bird was not Australian, not a woman, and not alive in 1935-41. Incidentally, I recall that someone named Bird played Bird's Opening (of course) against Tal at the 1974 Nice Olympiad.

Sep-20-11		perfidious: <FSR> True; that game was published in the tournament book.

Sep-22-11		whiteshark: Quote of the Day " Place the contents of the Chess box in a hat, shake them up vigorously, pour them on the board from a height of two feet, and you get the <style of Steinitz.> " -- Henry Edward Bird

Sep-22-11		Blunderdome: <FSR> I've already addressed this at CG Librarian chessforum. I imagine it will be fixed eventually.

Mar-02-12		whiteshark: Quote of the Day < Chess is so ancient that, by that distinction alone, it seems taken beyond the category of games altogether; and it has been said that it probably would have perished long ago, if it had not been destined to live forever. <>> -- Henry Bird

Jul-14-12		brankat: R.I.P. master Bird.

Jul-14-12		fm avari viraf: 'The Bird that flew away from the Chess nest'. RIP

Jul-14-12		JoergWalter: <When told by a helpful aide that his flies were undone he replied 'Young man, there is no harm in leaving the cage door open if the bird is dead! - Winston Churchill>

Mar-07-13		jnpope: <"Bird is the best bad player I ever saw.">-Lowenthal http://www.chessarch.com/excavation...

Mar-08-13		me to play: I recall a funny description of Bird..."A strong, but near-sighted English chess master, who frequently reached for the wrong pawn ".

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