My brother and chief chess nemisis (strani) routinely plays birds opening, it's off beat  enough to through off my normal defense. Just looking for some suggestions and creative ways to defend against it, thanks!!

I like the Bird's opening.  If you want to learn the From's gambit f4 e5, then that is a good choice.  Otherwise I would recommend a setup with d5 Nf6 g6 Bg7 0-0 c5 and Nc6 with a flexible position.  It is your choice.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into it.   What do you see as any specific weaknesses when you play birds?  Where do you find you routinely get into trouble?

If you play 1. f4 "correctly", there should not be any problems for the White player in the beginning.  The closest thing the Black player can do to cause "problems" is to play 1...e5, From's Gambit.  But that even gives White two comfortable choices - win both center pawns, or play the King's Gambit, an aggressive choice for White.  Either way, White still has plenty of choices...

Sometimes I find that f4 can be weakening to the king and that I can have a backwards e pawn in many lines.  A key to remember is to not let White get an e4 break in or else he will be better.  If you can stop the e4 thrust, you will have an edge due to the factors I just mentioned.

I like reversed dutch positions with 2...Bg4.

I like from's gambit, but d5 and c5 are both playable.

Have found an excellent site for, try this link for Bird's:

http://chesscoach1950.blogspot.com/2006/08/chess-understanding-birds-opening.html

Lots of good opening theory there, with detailed explanations.

Depends on how you usually play, I like Lev Alburt's suggestion (matching up with hyper-accelerated dragon choices) of playing g6 then 2. Nf3 d5 (or 2. e4 c5 going into the Sicilian)

I like to try to battle with e5 myself.  I try to work in an e5 pawn push.

There are many choices for Black, and the position is similar to the English Opening (1. c4) Of the most common responses:

1 e5 From's Gambit

2 Nf6 Preventing e4

3 b6 Preparing a fianchetto on the queenside, attacking an eventual e4

4 d5

5 f5 Symmetrical

6 g5 Hobb's Gambit  Unsound, but nonetheless interesting and uncommon

Hope this helps!

I can't believe your posting to defeat my BIRD! you jerk.

e5 is definitely my least favorite response to f4.

an example of my f4 foundation against most positions is based on the Polar Bear System created by GM Henrik Danielsen. I am still learning it but i love it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFfQASWu-Bk&feature=related

Use the Horse fly defence.

1.f4 e5

2.fxe5 d6

i prefer this variation as it gives black the initiative and black can create quite an attack on the King's side. I've played against bird's opening in about 25-30 games and i can assure you that it leads to very interesting positions. and there you have to beat your opponent with creativity.

if white goes: 2.e4 ( king's gambit) then you play 2. .. d5! a very interesting position again, and i play it very often and can assure you, black can gain the initiative again and dictate the game till the very end.

hope i helped :)

best!

Bird's is a decent opening, it's not so ridiculous as a lot of the less-mainline toys.  A bit monothematic for my tastes, but white does get a good game out of it.  In my experience, white goes more for a queenside fianchetto setup, aiming for rock-solid control of e5 and slow kingside expansion, rather than something like the diagram above.

I tend to reply with an e6-type setup, something like the below, and then attack the queenside with a pawn storm.  It's a quieter option, if you're not interested in playing a gambit, and I've done all right with it, but probably it would be better for the Bird players to say if it's actually good or not!

Wow, what a site. Thanks. But i dont think i will be able to go through so much of theory - :-) im just a hobby player. Anyway thanks

Thanks for all of your help and information, there is definitely a lot for me to think about and use to my advantage!! 

You could try  playing the computer on this site as white and see what sorts of things it comes up with.  

I tend to get into trouble when black replies with  From gambit followed by g5 and g4. Any suggestions on how best to follow up on this?

1. f4, e5 2. fxe5, d6 3. exd6, bxd6 4.Nf3, g5 5. g3, g4 6. Nh4, Ne4

The Bird's opening is one of the strongest openings and can become very dangerous if black dosen't know what he's doing. Here's an example in one of my games, already having a winning position by move 6!

http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/exploiting-blacks-early-castling