Is 1.f4 a playable opening?

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Avatar of Bongoman2406

Even though 1.f4 is given a bunch of bad press, I feel that it is completely playable in tournament games. On 1...e5, white can transpose to a king's gambit, and in the case of 1... d5, 2.Nf3 c5 3.e3 Nc6 Bb5, intending Bxc6 to secure e5. The last reason is why Henry Bird plays 1.f4. After all these lines and facts, I feel 1.f4 is completely playable. What do you think?

Avatar of penandpaper0089

Sure it's playable. I know a guy that went 7-0 in a tournament playing f4.

Avatar of Yigor

Sure that it's playable. In the case of From's gambit 1...e5 the accepted variation 2. fxe5 is better than the transposition to KG. wink.png

Avatar of Boyangzhao

Of course, I play it all the time in unofficial games.

Avatar of Bongoman2406
Yigor wrote:

Sure that it's playable. In the case of From's gambit 1...e5 the accepted variation 2. fxe5 is better than the transposition to KG.

I'd rather attack than defend

Avatar of TheAuthority
Bongoman2406 wrote:

a bunch of bad press

No such thing as bad press. Play f4 if you want. 

Avatar of thegreat_patzer

yes.  playable but aggressive.

why do patzers care about the prestige of an opening? 

Avatar of pfren

It's a bad opening, suitable only for patzers:

 

 

One may argue that white had no advantage out of the opening, but so what? The purpose of the game is not getting an advantage out of the opening!

Avatar of Bongoman2406

Says who?

In the end, white has the edge

The beginning of a game by Henry Bird (Playing white)

Avatar of Tals-pet-rabid-chipmunk
pfren wrote:

It's a bad opening, suitable only for patzers:

 

 

One may argue that white had no advantage out of the opening, but so what? The purpose of the game is not getting an advantage out of the opening!

Sorry for my possible ignorance, but are you being sarcastic? Cause you called it a bad opening then showed the best player in the world, some say of all time, using this opening against another super GM and winning...

Avatar of AnimeDegenerate
Cali_boy613 wrote:
pfren wrote:

It's a bad opening, suitable only for patzers:

 

 

One may argue that white had no advantage out of the opening, but so what? The purpose of the game is not getting an advantage out of the opening!

Sorry for my possible ignorance, but are you being sarcastic? Cause you called it a bad opening then showed the best player in the world, some say of all time, using this opening against another super GM and winning...

He's being sarcastic.

Avatar of poucin
Cali_boy613 a écrit :
pfren wrote:

It's a bad opening, suitable only for patzers:

 

 

One may argue that white had no advantage out of the opening, but so what? The purpose of the game is not getting an advantage out of the opening!

Sorry for my possible ignorance, but are you being sarcastic? Cause you called it a bad opening then showed the best player in the world, some say of all time, using this opening against another super GM and winning...

cry.png

Avatar of stanhope13

Bird,s Opening Google it.

Avatar of Tals-pet-rabid-chipmunk
I figured he was, but there's sooooooo much weird sarcasm on these forums (yigor is probably the most blatant example) I just don't really know anymore.

By the way, if your reading this yigor, I'dont mean this in a negative way. You seem like a pretty nice guy
Avatar of Yigor
Cali_boy613 wrote:
I figured he was, but there's sooooooo much weird sarcasm on these forums (yigor is probably the most blatant example) I just don't really know anymore.

By the way, if your reading this yigor, I'dont mean this in a negative way. You seem like a pretty nice guy

 

No problem, thanks for the compliment. wink.png

Avatar of Amplepawn

The eagle snatches the fish.Money Mouth

Avatar of ArtNJ

It is a little hard for me to understand why black wins more than white in this opening. https://www.365chess.com/opening.php?m=2&n=67&ms=f4&ns=67.  Maybe its because the white player often plays it as a lark, I dunno.  But it certainly makes me cautious about adopting the opening.  

Avatar of namishtheawesome

f4 is a good move!! 1st of all, it leads to a comfy trade and the WORLD CHESS CHAMPION played it.

I know about fools mate:

but only begginers follow that trap

because seriously-why play g4?

you would rather play g3...

this is not really a game

Avatar of bradct

1. f4 is playable, but there is a reason why black has a higher winning percentage against it than 1. d4 or 1. e4. Moving the f-pawn that early does create positional weak spots along the g1-a7 diagonal. The squares around the king are also weakened by that early f-pawn advance, g3 and e3 are vulnerable with one less pawn to defend those squares. White can try to minimize that by playing into a Stonewall setup with pawns at f4, e3, d4 and c3, but that creates a hole at e4 and makes the dark-squared bishop limited. One can have a certain level with success with it at the club level, but at the higher levels of competition, the positional concessions you make in this opening will be exploited by the top players.

Avatar of SmyslovFan

Well, Vladimir Kramnik is known as probably the best theoretician on the planet, and this is what happened to him when Carlsen played 1.f4: