Bird's Opening or the Dutch Attack is a chess opening characterised by the move

1.f4

The opening was mentioned by Luis Ramirez de Lucena in his book Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con ci Iuegos de Partido, published circa 1497. In the mid-nineteenth century the opening was sometimes played by La Bourdonnais and Elijah Williams, among others.

The British master Henry Edward Bird first played it in 1855 and continued to do so for the next 40 years. In 1885, the Hereford Times named it after him.^[1] In the first half of the 20th century Aron Nimzowitsch and Savielly Tartakower sometimes played 1.f4.^[2]

In more recent decades, Grandmasters who have used the Bird's with any regularity include Bent Larsen, Andrew Soltis, Lars Karlsson, and Mikhail Gurevich.

Popularity

Out of the twenty possible opening moves, 1.f4 ranks sixth in popularity in ChessGames.com's database, behind 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3, 1.c4, and 1.g3.^[3] It is less than one-twentieth as popular as the mirror-image English Opening (1.c4).^[3]

The move 1.f4 slightly weakens White's king's position.^[4] ChessGames.com's statistics indicate that the opening is not an effective way of preserving White's first-move advantage:

as of February 6, 2009, out of 1,685 games with 1.f4, White had won 32.8%, drawn 25.3%, and lost 41.9%, for a total winning percentage of only 45.45%.

White scores much better with the more popular 1.e4 (54.25%), 1.d4 (55.95%), 1.Nf3 (55.8%), 1.c4 (56.3%), and 1.g3 (55.8%).^[3]

Main line

Black's most common response is 1...d5, when the game can take on the character of a reversed Dutch Defence (1.d4 f5). White will then often either fianchetto his king's bishop with Nf3, g3, Bg2, and 0-0 with a reversed Leningrad Dutch; adopt a Stonewall formation with pawns on d4, e3, and f4 and attempt a kingside attack; or fianchetto his queen's bishop to increase his hold on the e5 square. Another strategy, by analogy with the Ilyin-Zhenevsky variation of the Dutch Defence, involves White playing e3, Be2, 0-0, d3 and attempting to achieve the break e3-e4 by various means, e.g. Ne5, Bf3, Qe2 and finally e3-e4, or simply Nc3 followed by e4.

From's Gambit

Black's sharpest try is 1...e5!?, From's Gambit, named for the Danish chess player Martin Severin From (1828–1895). White can then transpose into the King's Gambit with 2.e4. If White accepts the gambit with 2.fxe5, Black must choose between the unusual 2...Nc6 and 2...d6, the main line. After 2...Nc6, International Master (IM) Timothy Taylor, in his 2005 book on the Bird's, recommends 3.Nc3! Nxe5 4.e4 intending 5.d4, rather than 3.Nf3?! g5! when Black stands well.^[6] After the alternative 2...d6 3.exd6 Bxd6, White must play 4.Nf3, avoiding 4.Nc3?? Qh4+ 5.g3 Qxg3+ 5.hxg3 Bxg3 checkmate. Then Black again has two alternatives: 4...g5 to drive away White's knight, and 4...Nf6, threatening 5...Ng4 and 6...Nxh2! Future World Champion Emanuel Lasker introduced 4...g5 in the game Bird-Lasker, Newcastle on Tyne, 1892, so it is known as "Lasker's Variation".^[7] Taylor considers 4...g5 dubious; a quiet response that he considers favorable for White is 5.d4 g4 6.Ne5! (6.Ng5? leads to a dubious piece sacrifice) Bxe5 7.dxe5 Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 Nc6 9.Nc3! Be6 (9...Nxe5?! 10.Bf4 f6 11.Nd5 Kd8 12.Nxf6!) 10.Bf4 0-0-0+ 11.Ke1 Nge7 12.e3 Ng6 13.Bg5 Rdf8 14.Bf6 Rhg8 15.Be2 Ngxe5 16.Rf1 "with the typical edge for White that is characteristic of this variation", according to Taylor.^[8] He also considers the sharper 5.g3 g4 6.Nh4 favorable for White, giving as the main line 6...Ne7 7.d4 Ng6 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.Qd3 Nc6 (9...Rh5 10.Bg2; 9...Na6 10.c3) 10.c3 (10.Nc3? Nxd4! 11.Qxd4?? Bg3+ wins White's queen) Bf5 (10...Qe7 11.Bg2! Bd7 12.Nd2 0-0-0 13.Ne4! favored White in Taylor-Becerra Rivero, Minneapolis 2005) 11.e4 Qe7 12.Bg2 0-0-0 13.Be3. According to Taylor, White has a large advantage in all lines, although play remains extremely sharp, e.g. 13...Rde8 14.Nd2; 13...Rxh2 14.Rxh2 Bxg3+ 15.Kd1 Bxh2 16.exf5! Re8 17.fxg6! Qxe3 18.Qxe3 Rxe3 19.gxf7; or 13...Bd7 (threatening 13...Rxh2!) 14.Bf2!^[9]

Taylor considers the alternative 4...Nf6, which he calls "Mestel's Variation", unclear. He gives as the main line 5.d4 Ng4 6.Qd3 c5 (6...Nc6 7.c3 0-0 8.e4) 7.Qe4+ Be6 8.Ng5 Bxh2 9.Nxe6 Qh4+ 10.Kd2 fxe6 11.Rxh2 Qg5+ 12.e3 Nxh2 13.Qxe6+ Qe7 14.Qc8+ Qd8 15.Bb5+ Nc6, and now White chooses between 16.Qxb7 0-0 17.Bxc6 Rb8 and 16.Bxc6+ bxc6 17.Qxc6+ Kf7 18.Qxc5 Rf8, with wild and very unclear and difficult play in either case.^[10]

Other replies

The flexible 1...Nf6 is also possible. Then if White plays 2.b3?! (2.Nf3 is safer), 2...d6! 3.Bb2?! (or 3.Nf3 e5! 4.fxe5 dex5 5.Nxe5?? Qd4!) e5!, a sort of From's Gambit Deferred introduced by IM Michael Brooks, is dangerous for White, e.g. 4.fxe5 dex5 5.Bxe5 Ng4! Then 6.Bb2 Bd6 "leaves White in huge trouble down the e1-h4 diagonal", and Black wins an exchange after 7.Nf3 Bxh2! 8.Rxh2 Nxh2. After the alternative 6.Bg3, 6...Qf6! (even better than 6...Bd6) 7.c3 (not 7.Nc3? Ne3! 8.dxe3 Bb4) Bd6 is strong for Black.^[11]

Another popular response is 1...g6, a sort of Modern Defense, which may transpose into a reversed Dutch Defense (if Black plays ...d5 and ...c5), or a Sicilian Defence (if White plays e4 and Black plays ...c5). Black thus prevents white from playing on the a1-h8 diagonal. Also reasonable is 1...c5, hoping for a transposition into the Tal Gambit, a favorable variation of the Sicilian Defence, after 2.e4 d5! 3.exd5 (3.Nc3, the mellifluously-named "Toilet Variation," is also possible) Nf6, but White need not oblige, and may build up more slowly with 2.Nf3, followed by g3, Bg2, d3 and possibly a later e4.

The offbeat 1...b6!? is also known, and more soundly based than the same move after 1.e4 or 1.d4, since 1.f4 does not aid White's development, and weakens the a8-h1 diagonal as the move f3 is no longer available to shore up White's center. Taylor recommends 2.e4 Bb7 3.d3 e6 4.Nf3 Ne7 5.c3 d5 6.Qc2 Nd7 7.Be3, with a spatial advantage for White.^[12] Also possible is 1...b5!?, a form of Polish Defense. After the natural 2.e4 Bb7, White has no good way to protect e4 while maintaining his attack on b5, since 3.Nc3? b4 4.Nd5 e6 wins a pawn.

If Black chooses the symmetrical reply 1...f5, Taylor considers White's best line to be quiet play with 2.b3 b6 3.Bb2 Bb7 4.e3, when 4...Nf6 5.Bxf6! exf6 6.Nf3 left White with the better pawn structure in Larsen-Colon Romero, San Juan 1969. Instead, 4...e6 5.Qh5+ forces the weakening 5...g6, with a slight advantage to White according to Taylor.^[13] Also possible is the aggressive 2.e4!?, when Taylor analyzes 2...fxe4 3.d3 exd3 4.Bxd3 Nf6 5.Nf3 (5.g4 is well met by 5...d5, when after 6.g5, 6...Bg4 and 6...Ne4 both favor Black) 5...d5 6.0-0, when he considers White to have some, but not enough, compensation for the sacrificed pawn.^[14] Another possible continuation is 2...fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g4, the Swiss Gambit. This gambit was named by Alexander Wagner (1868–1942), a Polish chess player and openings analyst who introduced it in the Swiss correspondence game Wagner–Kostin, 1910–11. The term "Swiss Gambit" is often used to refer more generally to 1.f4 f5 2.e4. Chess historian Edward Winter has criticized that usage, pointing out that 1.f4 f5 2.e4 was analyzed by F.A. Lange in the June 1859 Deutsche Schachzeitung, and was played by many players, including Adolf Anderssen, in the nineteenth century.^[15]

An aggressive but rare response is 1...g5?!, the Hobbs Gambit, with play possibly continuing 2.fxg5 h6, a sort of mirror-image Benko Gambit. White can simply return the pawn with 3.g6, leaving Black with a weakened kingside after 3...fxg6. A variant is the Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit, 1...h6 intending 2...g5; against this, White could processed with 2. e4 g5 3. d4, when Black has lost time and weakened his kingside.

Another offbeat try is Martin Appleberry's 1...Nh6!?. The idea is to meet 2. b3 with 2...e5, another deferred From Gambit, and 2.e4 with 2...d5, when 3.exd5 Qxd5 would result in a Scandinavian Defense where White's pawn is oddly placed on f4. However, 2.Nf3 avoids both of these lines.

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