Which is better, Bird's or English?

For a post beginner, I would rather recommend 1.f4.

Basically you have to learn playing an (admittedly complex) type of position (reversed Leningrad Dutch), plus FEW more lines to have a complete white repertoire.

On the other hand, after 1.c4 there are  hundreds of transpositional possibilities.

And I wouldn't bother at all about % scores in databases, that stuff as early as move one is useful purely for statistical reasons.

The Bird is a slightly dubious, but can often lead to wild, fun games with chances on both sides. Chance of a middle game checkmate? Very high.

The English generally leads to boring closed positions with lots of maneuvering where one side tries to win an extra pawn and win in 70 moves. Chance of a middle game checkmate? Fairly low.

So the Bird by a mile!

People argue endlessly over whether or not this or that opening is better than another when the Stockfish evaluation by the end of book moves is almost always within half a centipawn, so it really doesn't matter. You should choose an opening that fits your style of play and that you enjoy.

if you want to be odder you can do the birds opening but it does weaken your king. if you want to do the safer way you can do the english

the bird is no

y

oops

the bird leads to positions l

that are very boring too

I played against it once and it led to a very equal game which turned into a draw(no chances to win for each side

for the bird you have to learn how to face the Froms gambit f4 e5, in the bird you are much more likely to get checkmated because your king is weak

I woulddothe English

nikkilikechikki, if you do the bird and black does not do the Froms gambit you will get boring positions

and if they do the gambit you will have to learn how to defend against the Froms gambit and if you don't know what you are doing you will get checkmated

Open King at Bird's does not matter, if it's not From's gambit.

English is more solid, but you need to be prepared in most interesting lines, in the other hand Bird's also playable but there you need to know at least From's Gambit.

Pierre Bot plays the Bird opening every time with white. He defends the weakened king quite well..!

English is far superior. We all know the birds opening loses to the powerful forms gambit fr fr fr

English Opening overall can limit the Queen by hitting the square D5, forcing them to lose a bit of tempo...
Bird's Opening is just funny to play...
Overall, English is better if you're playing serious but Bird's opening is when you're feeling silly.

the bird weakens the king and wastes development potential

the English at least allows you to develop the queen