Birds Opening

Birds Opening (or the Dutch Attack) is a chess opening followed by e4. Timothy Taylors book on Birds Opencharacterised by the move:
ing puts the main line Birds Opening as follows: 1.f4 d5
2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Be2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 c5.
1. f4
Birds is a standard ank opening. Whites strategic ideas
involve control of the e5-square, oering good attacking potential at the expense of slightly weakening the
kingside. Black may challenge Whites plan to control e5
immediately by playing Froms Gambit (1...e5). However, the Froms Gambit is notoriously double edged and
should only be played after signicant study.

3 Froms Gambit

Blacks sharpest try is 1...e5!?, Froms Gambit, named

for the Danish chess player Martin Severin From (1828
1895). White then has the option to transpose into the
Kings Gambit with 2.e4. This is an important option
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings assigns two codes which may cause Black to consider playing a dierent
line if he wishes to avoid the Kings Gambit. It has been
for Birds Opening: A02 (1.f4) and A03 (1.f4 d5).
observed that one of the possible disadvantages of Froms
Gambit is that it is very easy for White to avoid.

History

If White accepts the gambit with 2.fxe5, Black must

choose between the main line 2...d6 and the rather obscure 2...Nc6. After 2...Nc6, International Master (IM)
Timothy Taylor, in his 2005 book on the Birds, recommends 3.Nc3! Nxe5 4.d4 intending 5.e4, rather
than 3.Nf3?! g5! when Black stands well.[6] After the normal 2...d6 3.exd6 Bxd6, White must play
4.Nf3, avoiding 4.Nc3?? Qh4+ 5.g3 Qxg3+ 5.hxg3
Bxg3 checkmate. Then Black again has two alternatives: 4...g5 to drive away Whites knight, and 4...Nf6,
threatening 5...Ng4 and 6...Nxh2! Future World Champion Emanuel Lasker introduced 4...g5 in the game Bird
Lasker, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1892, so it is known as
Laskers Variation.[7] Taylor considers 4...g5 dubious;
a quiet response that he considers favorable for White
is 5.d4 g4 6.Ne5! (6.Ng5? leads to a dubious piece
sacrice) Bxe5 7.dxe5 Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 Nc6 9.Nc3! Be6
(9...Nxe5?! 10.Bf4 f6 11.Nd5 Kd8 12.Nxf6!) 10.Bf4
0-0-0+ 11.Ke1 Nge7 12.e3 Ng6 13.Bg5 Rdf8 14.Bf6
Rhg8 15.Be2 Ngxe5 16.Rf1 with the typical edge for
White that is characteristic of this variation, according
to Taylor.[8] He also considers the sharper 5.g3 g4 6.Nh4
favorable for White, giving as the main line 6...Ne7 7.d4
Ng6 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.Qd3 Nc6 (9...Rh5 10.Bg2; 9...Na6
10.c3) 10.c3 (10.Nc3? Nxd4! 11.Qxd4?? Bg3+ wins
Whites queen) Bf5 (10...Qe7 11.Bg2! Bd7 12.Nd2 00-0 13.Ne4! favored White in TaylorBecerra Rivero,
Minneapolis 2005) 11.e4 Qe7 12.Bg2 0-0-0 13.Be3.
According to Taylor, White has a large advantage in
all lines, although play remains extremely sharp, e.g.
13...Rde8 14.Nd2; 13...Rxh2 14.Rxh2 Bxg3+ 15.Kd1
Bxh2 16.exf5! Re8 17.fxg6! Qxe3 18.Qxe3 Rxe3
19.gxf7; or 13...Bd7 (threatening 14...Rxh2!) 14.Bf2![9]

The opening was mentioned by Luis Ramrez de Lucena in his book Repeticin de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con Cien Juegos de Partido, published circa 1497.
In the mid-nineteenth century the opening was sometimes played by La Bourdonnais and Elijah Williams,
among others. The British master Henry Edward Bird
rst played it in 1855 and continued to do so for the next
40 years.[1] In 1885, the Hereford Times named it after
him.[2] In the rst half of the 20th century Aron Nimzowitsch and Savielly Tartakower sometimes played 1.f4.[3]
In more recent decades, Grandmasters who have used the
Birds with any regularity include Bent Larsen, Andrew
Soltis, Lars Karlsson,[4] Mikhail Gurevich, and Henrik
Danielsen.[5]

1...d5

Blacks most common response is 1...d5, when the game

can take on the character of a Dutch Defence (1.d4
f5) with colors reversed. White will then often either
anchetto his kings bishop with Nf3, g3, Bg2, and 00 with a reversed Leningrad Dutch; adopt a Stonewall
formation with pawns on d4, e3, and f4 and attempt a
kingside attack; or anchetto his queens bishop to increase his hold on the e5 square. Another strategy, by
analogy with the IlyinZhenevsky variation of the Dutch
Defence, involves White playing e3, Be2, 0-0, d3 and attempting to achieve the break e3e4 by various means,
e.g. Ne5, Bf3, Qe2 and nally e3e4, or simply Nc3
1

Other Black responses

The exible 1...Nf6 is also possible. Then if White
plays 2.b3?! (2.Nf3 is safer), 2...d6! 3.Bb2?! (or
3.Nf3 e5! 4.fxe5 dxe5 5.Nxe5?? Qd4!) e5!, a
sort of Froms Gambit Deferred introduced by IM
Michael Brooks, is dangerous for White, e.g. 4.fxe5
dxe5 5.Bxe5 Ng4! Then 6.Bb2 Bd6 leaves White in
huge trouble down the e1h4 diagonal, and Black
wins an exchange after 7.Nf3 Bxh2! 8.Rxh2 Nxh2.
After the alternative 6.Bg3, 6...Qf6! (even better
than 6...Bd6) 7.c3 (not 7.Nc3? Ne3! 8.dxe3 Bb4)
Bd6 is strong for Black.[10]
Another popular response is 1...g6, a sort of Modern
Defense, which may transpose into a reversed Dutch
Defense (if Black plays ...d5 and ...c5), or a Sicilian
Defence (if White plays e4 and Black plays ...c5).
Black thus prevents White from playing on the a1
h8 diagonal.
Also reasonable is 1...c5, hoping for a transposition
into the Tal Gambit, a favorable variation of the
Sicilian Defence, after 2.e4 d5! 3.exd5 (3.Nc3, the
melliuously-named Toilet Variation, is also possible) Nf6, but White need not oblige, and may build
up more slowly with 2.Nf3, followed by g3, Bg2, d3
and possibly a later e4.
The obeat 1...b6!? is also known, and more
soundly based than the same move after 1.e4 or
1.d4, since 1.f4 does not aid Whites development,
and weakens the a8h1 diagonal as the move f3 is
no longer available to shore up Whites center. Taylor recommends 2.e4 Bb7 3.d3 e6 4.Nf3 Ne7 5.c3
d5 6.Qc2 Nd7 7.Be3, with a spatial advantage for
White.[11]

POPULARITY

Swiss correspondence game WagnerKostin, 1910

11. The term Swiss Gambit is often used to refer more generally to 1.f4 f5 2.e4. Chess historian
Edward Winter has criticized that usage, pointing
out that 1.f4 f5 2.e4 was analyzed by F.A. Lange
in the June 1859 Deutsche Schachzeitung, and was
played by many players, including Adolf Anderssen,
in the nineteenth century.[14]
An aggressive but rare response is 1...g5?!, the
Hobbs Gambit, with play possibly continuing 2.fxg5
h6, a sort of mirror image Benko Gambit. White
can simply return the pawn with 3.g6, leaving Black
with a weakened kingside after 3...fxg6. A variant
is the HobbsZilbermints Gambit, 1...h6 intending
2...g5; against this, White could proceed with 2. e4
g5 3. d4, when Black has lost time and weakened
his kingside.
Another obeat try is Martin Appleberrys
1...Nh6!?. The idea is to meet 2. b3 with 2...e5, another deferred From Gambit, and 2.e4 with 2...d5,
when 3.exd5 Qxd5 would result in a Scandinavian
Defense where Whites pawn is oddly placed on f4.
However, 2.Nf3 avoids both of these lines.
Another possible reply by Black is 1...Nc6. With
this move, Black lays the support for the advance of
the e-le pawn. The general sequence of moves that
Black may opt for is g6, Bg7 and d6 and eventually
advance the e-le pawn.

5 Popularity

Also possible is 1...b5!?, a form of Polish Defense.

After the natural 2.e4 Bb7, White has no good way Out of the twenty possible opening moves, 1.f4 ranks
to protect e4 while maintaining his attack on b5, sixth in popularity in ChessGames.com's database, besince 3.Nc3? b4 4.Nd5 e6 wins a pawn.
hind 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3, 1.c4, and 1.g3.[15] It is less than
popular as the mirror image English
If Black chooses the symmetrical reply 1...f5, Tay- one-twentieth as[15]
Opening
(1.c4).
The move 1.f4 slightly weakens
lor considers Whites best line to be quiet play with
[16]
king's
position.
ChessGames.coms statistics
Whites
2.b3 b6 3.Bb2 Bb7 4.e3, when 4...Nf6 5.Bxf6! exf6
indicate
that
the
opening
is
not an eective way of pre6.Nf3 left White with the better pawn structure in
rst-move
advantage: as of February
serving
Whites
LarsenColon Romero, San Juan 1969. Instead,
2013,
out
of
3,872
games
with 1.f4, White had won
4...e6 5.Qh5+ forces the weakening 5...g6, with a
30.7%,
drawn
32%,
and
lost
37.7%, for a total score of
[12]
slight advantage to White according to Taylor.
[15][17]
White
scores
much
better with the more
46.7%.
Also possible is the aggressive 2.e4!?, when Taypopular
1.e4
(54.25%),
1.d4
(55.95%),
1.Nf3 (55.8%),
lor analyzes 2...fxe4 3.d3 exd3 4.Bxd3 Nf6 5.Nf3
[15]
1.c4
(56.3%),
and
1.g3
(55.8%).
(5.g4 is well met by 5...d5, when after 6.g5, 6...Bg4
and 6...Ne4 both favor Black) 5...d5 6.0-0, when
he considers White to have some, but not enough,
compensation for the sacriced pawn.[13] Another
possible continuation is 2...fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g4,
the Swiss Gambit. This gambit was named by
Alexander Wagner (18681942), a Polish chess
player and openings analyst who introduced it in the

According to the similar site 365chess.com, which includes data for lower level games, as of August 2015,
out of 20,010 games with 1.f4, White had won 35.1%,
drawn 25%, and lost 39.9%, for a total score of 47.6%.[18]
The ve more popular openings are still substantially
more successful for White: 1.e4 (53.15%), 1.d4 (54.8%),
1.Nf3 (55.4%), 1.c4 (54.65%), and 1.g3 (54.9%).[18]

See also

Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1992). The Oxford Companion to Chess. Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-19-866164-9.

List of chess openings

List of chess openings named after people

Notes

[1] Having forgotten familiar openings, I commenced adopting KBP for rst move, and nding it led to highly interesting games out of the usual groove, I became partial to
it. Henry Bird (1873, entering match play after a six
year absence from chess); Hooper and Whyld (1987), p.
32.
[2] Hooper and Whyld (1992), p. 40.
[3] de Firmian (2008), p. 732.

Palliser, Richard (2006). Beating Unusual Chess

Openings. Gloucester Publishers. ISBN 978-185744-429-2.
Taylor, Timothy (2005). Birds Opening: Detailed
Coverage of an Underrated and Dynamic Choice for
White. Gloucester Publishers. ISBN 1-85744-4027.
A reference to the Birds Opening was shown in
the Television series "Monk" (Season 7, Episode 2,
Mr. Monk and the Genius) in which Monk seeks
help in catching a chess master plotting to kill his
wife from another chess player, who is seen playing
the Birds Opening and making the comment The
Bird, as if I haven't seen that one before.

[4] The chess games of Lars Karlsson. Chessgames.com.

Retrieved 2012-09-07.
[5] The chess games of Henrik Danielsen.
Chessgames.com. 2010-07-26. Retrieved 2012-09-07.

Opening Report. Bird, Williams Gambit: 1.f4 d5

2.e4 (47 games)

[6] Taylor (2005), p. 182.

[7] Taylor (2005), pp. 15051.

Grandmaster with many OTB games in this opening,

and also his YouTube channel with Birds Opening
lessons and live games.

[8] Taylor (2005), pp. 14952.

[9] Taylor (2005), pp. 13545.
[10] Palliser (2006), p. 124.
[11] Taylor (2005), pp. 20203.
[12] Taylor (2005), p. 210.
[13] Taylor (2005), pp. 21416.
[14] Edward Winter, 'The Swiss Gambit' (1998).
[15] Opening Explorer.
2009-02-06.

ChessGames.com.

Retrieved on

[16] Adorjn (1998), p. 27.

[17] Whites overall winning percentage is calculated by taking
the percentage of games won by White and adding half of
the percentage of drawn games, in this case 32.8 plus half
of 25.3.
[18] http://www.365chess.com/opening.php

9 External links

References
Adorjn, Andrs (1998). Black is O.K. in Rare
Openings. CAISSA Ltd.
de Firmian, Nick (2008). Modern Chess Openings
(15th edition). Random House Puzzles & Games.
ISBN 978-0-8129-3682-7.

10

10
10.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Birds Opening Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird{}s_Opening?oldid=751342752 Contributors: Camembert, No Guru, Neilc,

ThreeE, Byrial, Modargo, ZeroOne, CanisRufus, Art LaPella, Themindset, Jacobolus, Sjakkalle, Quale, Bubba73, DoubleBlue, Falphin,
WarmasterKron, YurikBot, Krakatoa, BOT-Superzerocool, Cobblet, SmackBot, Silly rabbit, Sim man, Shalom Yechiel, Birdsf4, Ligulembot, Cantoni~enwiki, Mibelz, CharlotteWebb, Matthew Proctor, Mack2, JAnDbot, The Transhumanist, SyG, Albmont, Baccyak4H,
Pawnkingthree, Use the force, Chessnerd, Deevrod, Newzild, Sun Creator, Rossen4, Chesslover96, XLinkBot, Lab-oratory, Addbot,
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