Bird Opening

The Bird Opening, also called the Dutch Attack or Stein Opening, starts with 1. f4. It is named after the English master Henry Bird. The pawn controls e5 from the flank, and White can then develop the king's knight to f3 without first committing the f-pawn. The cost is a slightly loosened king position, with the e1-h4 diagonal especially sensitive in the opening phase. The ECO assigns A02 to 1. f4 and A03 to 1...d5.

1...d5, the Dutch Variation, is by far the most common answer, chosen in roughly a third of games. Black claims the center and e4, and the play resembles a Dutch Defense with colors reversed. White has several setups. One is a reversed Leningrad with Nf3, g3, Bg2 and O-O, preparing e4 with d3 combined with c3 or Qe1. Another is a Stonewall with pawns on d4, e3 and f4 and kingside attacking intentions. White can also fianchetto the queen's bishop to strengthen the hold on e5, or play Nf3, e3, Be2, O-O and d3 aiming for the e3-e4 break. Black can choose a symmetrical fianchetto, as in 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Be2 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 c5. Sharper second moves include the Sturm Gambit, 2. c4, where 2...d4 leads to Réti-like play, and the Williams Gambit, 2. e4.

The most combative answer is 1...e5, From's Gambit. Black gives a pawn to attack the weakened kingside directly. White may sidestep it with 2. e4, transposing to the King's Gambit. After 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6, White must play 4. Nf3, because 4. Nc3?? Qh4+ 5. g3 Qxg3+ 6. hxg3 Bxg3 is mate. Black then continues with 4...g5, introduced by Emanuel Lasker against Bird in 1892, or with 4...Nf6. The Schlechter Gambit, 2...Nc6, and the Lasker Gambit, 2...f6, are less explored deviations.

1...e6 is the second most frequent reply. It frees the queen toward h4 without offering material, and 2. e4 transposes to the La Bourdonnais Variation of the French. Other replies include 1...Nf6, 1...g6 and 1...c5. The symmetrical 1...f5 can be met by the Wagner-Zwitersch Gambit, 2. e4, or by 2. d4 d5, the Double Duck Formation. Offbeat tries include the Hobbs Gambit, 1...g5, the Horsefly Defense, 1...Nh6, and the Myers Defense, 1...b5.

On Lichess the results are close to even, and the engine regards the position after 1. f4 as roughly balanced. Bird used the move for some four decades from 1855. Later it was taken up by Nimzowitsch and Tartakower, and then by Bent Larsen, who played it against Fischer in the 1970s Candidates cycle. It appears seldom in classical events today but is a frequent choice in faster time controls.