Thoughts on birds opening?

The Stone Wall Attack is sometimes recommended to beginners and the Birds Opening can transpose into it so it’s not a bad idea.

The Bird's Opening is not recommended at all. There needs to be a concrete reason to advance the f-pawn as otherwise it just weakens the king, whether in the center or castled kingside.

In the Dutch, White has played d4. That weakens e4 for White. Black has a concrete reason to play 1...f5 before 2...Nf6. Dominate the weakened e4 square.

With 1.f4?!, Black has not played ...d5. So e5 is not weak. Black can still play ...d6 at some point and build up an e5 breat, and the Stonewall only works against certain formations, with ...d5 a critical move that must be played, otherwise Black will break the Stonewall with ...e5 a lot more easily than if Black had already played ...d5.

This commitment of the opposing d-pawn is why the Dutch works and not the Bird.

Most people play d4 - e3 - f4 when they go into the Stone Wall Attack.

It’s possible for the OP to mix the move order.

He could start with f4 or e3.

Then just play other 2 moves.

There are Pros & Cons associated with each move.

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The Main line crushing the Bird Opening is the same one which crushes the Dutch.

The Position doesn’t officially have a name.

The closed name might be the King’s Fianchetto/Catalan Position.

Black set up looks like above.

It absolutely destroys the Bird / StoneWall Attack / Dutch StoneWall Defense complex.

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However, I don’t think low level players play the above line. So the OP could get some easy wins against weaker players with the line.

I say go for it!

You could probably play the line till around level 1800. Then you might need to switch openings, but you might rake in tons of points till that time.

No, queenside castling is generally not a good idea for the Bird player. There is a line in the Dutch 1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 d5 4.Bxf6 exf6 where both players castle queenside, but off the top of my head I can't think of any other lines where the Bird/Dutch player can get away with it.

Interesting theory, but then how do you explain that after 1.f4 the most popular move by masters is 1...d5 ?

I think the reason why the Dutch is more popular than Bird's is not objective but subjective. Most players have a different psychology for their white and black openings. But if you don't mind "playing like black" when you have the whites, then there is not much wrong with Bird's Opening.

Edit: The forum software keeps eating the "f4/f5" and I have to go back and fix it.

After f4, The main moves are d5 or Nf6.

Black aims to prevent White from having 2 pawns in the center side by side (e4 + f4)

Similarly when White plays c4, Black main move is e5 trying to stop c4 + d4.

Another Black set up players play is the above set up. I don’t know how good it is compared to the other line I showed, but it’s a popular option.

I mainly play the Fianchetto line and I do very good with it.

It was an International Master who gave me the idea to play the Fianchetto line.

You know who it might have been IM Pfren.

There was an IM named that who use to comment on the forums.

He said it was the best way to handle the Bird.

I studied the Fianchetto line.

I did search on it.

And Wooooooo the Bird’s Opening became a Joke like the IM said.

BUT when I was lower level. It used to give me problems. A lot of people don’t know the line in lower levels so you can get easy wins.

If you are thinking of using the bird's opening, you should not be thinking of castling queenside. I have played several hundred games with it, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to absolutely no one, except the people I don't like.

Thank you. I have been experimenting with it, and after starting with the flank pawn I have developed my pieces to control the e5 square, and then later move my horse there. After this I can move my queen and launch several different attacks and also the horse is in an extremely powerful spot. Thanks

Here is a sample game to show you how the Bird Opening can transform into Stone Wall Attack.

Don’t forget about White Key Queen move.

Queen e1 the small creepy crawly move is important so Queen can rush over to King side.

Here is another example with different Black moves.

If they capture Knight on e5, you almost always take with F pawn to open up your Rook.

If they capture d4 pawn, you almost always take with E3 pawn to open up your Bishop.

Yeah, you can get a lot of amazing King side attacks in this position as White.

When you get higher level, it’s hard to do it though as people play differently.