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Bird Opening

Play through the 28 named Bird Opening lines and see the name of each position.

What this bird opening page does

The Bird Opening is the chess opening that starts with 1. f4, where White moves the f-pawn on the first turn. This page is a free opening explorer for it that runs in your web browser, with no sign-up and nothing uploaded. It lists the named lines of the Bird Opening from a catalogue of about 3,800 named opening lines and plays any selected line on a board. The chess.js library (BSD licence) checks every move on the board. The explorer shows named lines and positions only, with no engine evaluation, win percentages, master games or statistics. Use it to learn the names and move orders of the Bird and the lines that answer it.

Bird opening example

How to use the Bird Opening explorer

  1. Look at the board first. The main line is already on it, so you can see the full sequence at once.
  2. Press ⏮ to go back to the start, or ◀ to go back one move.
  3. Press ▶ to play the next move, or ⏭ to jump to the last move.
  4. Press Auto-play to play one move about every 1.1 seconds. The button changes to Pause, so press it again to stop.
  5. Press Flip board to view the position from Black's side.
  6. Read the line under the buttons. It shows the moves played so far and, when the catalogue knows the position, its name and ECO code.
  7. Scroll the Lines list on the right. Each row shows the ECO code, the name and the moves. Click a row to play that line.
  8. In Moves of the selected line, click any move to jump straight to that position.
  9. To practise a line, click 'Practise this line in the opening trainer' below the moves list. It opens the trainer on the same line.
  10. Click any move under Moves of the selected line to jump straight to that position, or press ⏮ to go back to the start.
  11. Press Flip board to look at the position from Black's side, and use Auto-play to watch the line run by itself.

The address bar keeps the chosen line in the ?l= part of the address. Copy that address to share or return to the same line.

What is the Bird Opening?

The Bird Opening is the chess opening that begins 1. f4, in which White pushes the f-pawn two squares. The catalogue lists it as 'Bird Opening' under ECO code A02.

The move 1. f4 controls the e5 square and prepares to bring the knight out to f3. It is named after the English player Henry Bird. Its idea mirrors the Dutch Defense (1. d4 f5) with the colours reversed.

Black has many replies. The catalogue has 28 named lines: 27 under A02 and A03, and one transposition under B21. The main replies are:

Other named replies include the Hobbs Gambit (1...g5), the Horsefly Defense (1...Nh6) and the Myers Defense (1...b5).

The catalogue names a position by the pieces on the board, not by the order of the moves. Two move orders that reach the same position therefore share one name.

  • 1...e5, which leads to From's Gambit (A02).
  • 1...d5, the Dutch Variation (A03), with the Dudweiler Gambit 2. g4, the Sturm Gambit 2. c4, the Williams Gambit 2. e4 and the Thomas Gambit.
  • 1...f5, with the Double Duck Formation and the Swiss and Wagner-Zwitersch gambits.
  • 1...Nf6, which includes the Batavo-Polish Attack 2. Nf3 g6 3. b4 and the Mujannah 2. c4.

What is From's Gambit?

From's Gambit is the line 1. f4 e5, in which Black answers with e5 and White can take it with 2. fxe5. A gambit is an opening where a player gives up a pawn early, usually to gain activity.

After 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6, White plays 4. Nf3. Black then has two named options. One is 4...g5, the Lasker Variation. The other is 4...Nh6 5. d4, the Lipke Variation.

The longest named line in the catalogue has 9 half-moves and ends with 5. d4 in the Lipke Variation. The explorer plays that line to the end when you open it from the Lines list.

Examples

♜8♞♝♛♚♝♞♜♟7♟♟♟♟♟♟♟654♟3♟2♟♟♟♟♟♟♜1a♞b♝c♛d♚e♝f♞g♜h
Bird Opening (ECO A02): 1. f4.
♜8♞♝♛♚♝♞♜♟7♟♟♟♟♟♟65♟4♟3♟2♟♟♟♟♟♟♜1a♞b♝c♛d♚e♝f♞g♜h
Bird Opening: From's Gambit (ECO A02): 1. f4 e5.
♜8♞♝♛♚♝♞♜♟7♟♟♟♟♟♟65♟4♟3♟2♟♟♟♟♟♟♜1a♞b♝c♛d♚e♝f♞g♜h
Bird Opening: Dutch Variation (ECO A03): 1. f4 d5.

Questions and answers

What are the moves of the Bird Opening?

The first move is 1. f4. After that, the moves depend on Black's reply, such as 1...e5 or 1...d5. Each named line appears in the Lines list with its full moves.

Is the Bird Opening good for beginners?

The explorer does not rate openings, so it cannot say how well the Bird scores. In general, f4 moves a pawn that shields White's king, which can weaken that side. Learn the main replies before you play it.

What is the Dutch Variation of the Bird?

It is the line that starts 1. f4 d5, filed under ECO code A03. Look for rows starting with A03 in the Lines list to find the named lines that follow it.

What does ECO A02 mean?

A02 is the code the catalogue gives the Bird Opening. ECO stands for Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, a code system from A00 to E99 that groups openings into families. The letter A covers flank openings and queen's pawn openings other than the main ones.

Does the tool say which side is winning?

No. The explorer has no engine evaluation, win percentages, master games or statistics. It shows named lines and positions only.

Open-source components used by this tool: chess.js (BSD-2-Clause); chess-openings catalogue (CC0-1.0).