Chess lessons › Chess openings
The Bird Opening
Start with 1.f4 to fight for e5, build with Nf3, e3, b3 and Bb2, and know how to meet From’s Gambit.
The idea
White starts with 1.f4 to fight for e5 from the first move.
- The pawn on f4 has aimed at e5 since move one.
- The knight on f3 aims at e5 too, and covers h4.
- Bb2 adds the bishop, from the long diagonal.
In a game: After 1.f4, keep h4 covered before a black queen can check from there.
How the lesson begins
1.f4 is the Bird Opening. The pawn on f4 controls e5, and White can follow with Nf3, e3, b3 and the bishop to b2 to aim more pieces at that square.
The cost is the diagonal from h4 to e1: with the f-pawn gone from f2, a black queen on h4 would check the king. Among players rated 1200 to 1599 on Lichess, White scores 51% after 1.f4. Henry Bird lost three games with it to Ernst Falkbeer in a match in London in 1856, but beat John Wisker with it in London in 1873.
Black’s most played answer, at 1200 to 1599 and at 2000 and above, is 1...d5, the Dutch Variation. It is the Dutch Defence with the colours reversed. Black takes a share of the centre and covers e4.
White’s most played reply is 2.Nf3, in 69% of games at 1200 to 1599 and 78% at 2000 and above. The knight covers e5 as well, and h4.
- 2. Nf3
Find the move
Henry Bird played this position against Louis Paulsen in Vienna in 1873. White to move: develop the bishop from c1 so that it joins the fight for e5.
A hint
Your pawn on b3 has opened a square.
Show the answer
5. Bb2
5.Bb2. Now the pawn on f4, the knight on f3 and the bishop on b2 all aim at e5. Paulsen won that game, but this is the set-up the Bird is built on.
In numbers
How often it is played
| Rating | Value |
|---|---|
| Under 800 | 6 |
| 800 to 1199 | 6.7 |
| 1200 to 1599 | 8 |
| 1600 to 1999 | 12 |
| 2000 and up | 9.6 |
How the games ended
White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%, over 17,568 games that start this way, in a sample of rated Lichess games from 2026.