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Sorry about the Stonewall. I just skipped a move. Both sides castle before Black plays Ba6. That's almost embarrassing. 
I am not an expert on the Bird. I used to play the Dutch, but I did not like the resulting positions. I agree with you that Black doesn't equalize really easily. But Black has a much easier time equalizing against the Bird than against the main first moves such as e4 and d4.
If Birds opening is so great how come no top players have ever used it? (exept Henry Bird himself) Because it isnt really that great, exept maybe for surprising your opponent. Notice that most great positional players like Petrosian, Karpov and Korchnoi all played d4 or sometimes c4 while aggresive players like Fischer, Kasparov and Morphy all played e4.
Personally I like Nf3 the best, maximum flexibility. You can follow it up with c4, d4, g3 or any mix of the three. It can be aggresive e.g. KIA as Fischer used to play, (but he used a different move order starting with e4) or positional e.g. The Catalan with c4, d4, and g3, a favourite of Korchnoi.
KillaBeez wrote: I am not an expert on the Bird. I used to play the Dutch, but I did not like the resulting positions. I agree with you that Black doesn't equalize really easily. But Black has a much easier time equalizing against the Bird than against the main first moves such as e4 and d4.
The last one needs to be proved, it is also a psychological evaluation only. (the objective value between 1.e4 and 1.f4 is equal, in my opinion).
Mr_Extra_Incredible wrote:
If Birds opening is so great how come no top players have ever used it? (exept Henry Bird himself) Because it isnt really that great, exept maybe for surprising your opponent. Notice that most great positional players like Petrosian, Karpov and Korchnoi all played d4 or sometimes c4 while aggresive players like Fischer, Kasparov and Morphy all played e4.
Personally I like Nf3 the best, maximum flexibility. You can follow it up with c4, d4, g3 or any mix of the three. It can be aggresive e.g. KIA as Fischer used to play, (but he used a different move order starting with e4) or positional e.g. The Catalan with c4, d4, and g3, a favourite of Korchnoi.
1)
Larsen played the bird.
2) many topplayers play the dutch, the bird is better than the dutch (one more tempo). This means it is fashion we follow, and not value.
I also believe that From's Gambit is an excellent resource for Black, but White can get an advantage if he knows how to play against the g5 lines. Then you go to Nf6. The theory appears to be equal, but there needs to be a lot more analysis to have a definite conclusion of the evaluation.
yes, Nf6 in the from is very fresh and less explored than g5. May be, black is fine, but I have no proof of that.
I mostly play the king's gambit.
One could say the same about the king#s gambit what was already said about the bird.
'Very few GM#s play it, ERGO it must be bad...'
Where is the proof?
It is a very dangerous opening, one mistake can cost you everything.
That might be the ONLY reason why it is not fashionable.
In my opinion, the Kings gambit is not worse than the Ruy Lopez or the Italian opening.
the maneuvre b6 Ba6 and exchange of whitesquared bishop does not necessarily equalize in the Stonewall bird: after B:a6 N:a6 the knight is misplaced, white has strong control over the center, in particular over e5. The bishop Bc1 comes out comfortably over b3 Ba3, and later c3- or even b3-b4, with strong initiative on the queenside. Meanwhile the counterpart on g7 bites on granit: white can play whenever he wants Ne5.
I have seen this course of games in some games of Kramnik and others with changed colours.
I think that the Fischer Defense to the King's Gambit is the best. White usually has a tough time showing adequate compensation for the pawn. The position is unclear, which is to White's advantage.
Yes, I also play with black sometimes the Fischer-defense.
(haven't understood the argument of the champion himslef why this should be definitely better than the older defense 1.e4 e5, 2.f4 ef, 3.Nf3 g5, 4.h4 g4, 5.Ne5 etc.)
In an old - still good - monograph of Glazkov and Estrin, they say, that after 1.e4 e5, 2.f4 ef, 3.Nf3 d6, 4.d4 g5, white , if he wants to squeeze something out of the opening, should play 5.h4 g4, 6. Ng1(!) with some weird play, where the analysis is certainly not exhaustive; Glazkov claims white has a strong position.
But strangly, the authors do not even mention the move 6....f5, which looks very logical to me.... I would like to know what the latest theory says about all this...
I CAN'T ATTEST TO THE BEST AS I AM STILL TRYING SEVERAL, BUT CAN'T DECIDE ON ONE
I'VE TRYED THE SCOTCH, QUEENS INDIAN, COLLE/ZUKERTORT, RUBINSTIEN
LARSEN ATTACK, I'M STILL LOOKING FOR A OPENING THAT DEVELOPES QUICK LIKE THE COLLE, BUT HAS A GOOD PAWEN STRUCTURE FOR PROTECTION LIKE THE STONEWALL, IF ANYONE CAN HELP ME OUT, I WOULD APPRECIATE IT GREATLY
THANKS TONY FROM NEW JERSEY SHORE
I DON'T PROFACE TO BE GREAT AT CHESS, I JUST WANT TO IMPROVE MY GAME
If a player knew every opening and variation they would be an extremely strong player!
Chess_Champion26 wrote:
"If a player knew every opening and variation they would be an extremely strong player!"
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'I know 10 million opening moves...how about you?' --- Deep Fritz
I still say that for me The Polish(Sokolsky/Orang-utan)opening is simple the best!
perhaps you know other openings very badly...
How do you act against the two ways to equality for black (with hope for even more) that I proposed here?
In the leningrad variant you present, white plays e2-e4 too early, therefore black is equal - the square d3 is weak here. Better than 9. e4 is 9. Na3 and then Nc2.
Also, I believe the combination of Qe1 and c3 is not as black plays most often in the Leningrad. There he plays the setup as follows: Qe8 Na6 , and after d4-d5 he plays c7-c5, and then he prepares b7-b5, after which he has good counterplay on the b-file, and along the diagonal a1-h8.
If you look at Danielsen's website on the Polarbearsystem, he also plays the Bird-Leningrad by not hurrying with e2-e4.