A02Opening
Bird Opening
1. f4
Black to move
- Legal moves
- 20
- Games in the next 4 moves
- 198,473
- Different positions among them
- 71,958
- Named lines from here
- 29
Named after the 19th-century English master Henry Bird. White claims e5 with the f-pawn and often reaches a Dutch Defence with colours reversed.
It is reached after a single move: 1. f4.
Black is to move and has 20 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 198,473 different games. Those games reach 71,958 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 2.8 on average.
The Lichess opening list names 29 further lines after this position, such as From's Gambit (1... e5) and Dutch Variation (1... d5).

Move by move
- 1. f4Bird Opening
Named lines from here
- From's GambitA021... e5
- Dutch VariationA031... d5
- Wagner-Zwitersch GambitA021... f5 2. e4
- Hobbs GambitA021... g5
- Horsefly DefenseA021... Nh6
- Myers DefenseA021... b5
- MujannahA021... Nf6 2. c4
- Double Duck FormationA021... f5 2. d4 d5
- Hobbs-Zilbermints GambitA021... h6 2. Nf3 g5
- Fool's MateA021... e6 2. g4 Qh4#
- Batavo-Polish AttackA021... Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. b4
Famous games through this position
Related openings
- King's Pawn GameB001. e4
- Queen's Pawn GameA401. d4
- English OpeningA101. c4
- Zukertort OpeningA041. Nf3
- Nimzo-Larsen AttackA011. b3
- Hungarian OpeningA001. g3
- Polish OpeningA001. b4
- Van Geet OpeningA001. Nc3
- Van't Kruijs OpeningA001. e3
- Mieses OpeningA001. d3
FEN
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