Bird’s Opening

The Bird’s opening is a flank opening from white’s perspective, starting with the move 1.f4.

Bird’s Opening Basic Theory
The Bird’s Opening is named after British master Henry Edward Bird, who played the opening throughout his chess career in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Bird’s opening is an aggressive, imbalanced and rather unusual opening where white aims to control the e5-square, possibly with the help of a fianchettoed bishop on b2. The opening generally offers good attacking chances to white but comes at the cost of weakening their own king-side.

A popular response by black is 1… d5, known as the Dutch Variation of the Bird’s Opening.