Bird's Attack

Bird's Attack is a branch of the Classical Variation of the Giuoco Piano. After 4...Nf6 hits e4, White postpones the central break d4 and advances the b-pawn against the bishop on c5. It resembles the Evans Gambit, but because c3 has already been played the pawn is defended, so 5...Bxb4 simply loses a piece to 6. cxb4 and no material is offered. White gains a tempo and queenside space, and a later b5 would drive the c6-knight away from its defense of e5. The cost is a loosened queenside and a delay in dealing with the pressure on e4.

Black must move the bishop. By far the most popular choice is 5...Bb6, which keeps the bishop on the a7-g1 diagonal aiming at f2. The rarer 5...Be7 and 5...Bd6 are more modest retreats. The engine rates all three as reasonable and assesses the position as roughly balanced. In online games Black scores slightly better than White, and draws are rare. The line is an infrequent sideline rather than a main road of Italian theory.