the birds gambit

Wow, I like it and thinks its a great idea!

Gambits have practical value. Surely, with unlimited time, most dubious gambits can be refuted OTB. But, here, and in the world of shorter time limit games, gambits have their place as finding that refutation over the board is made tougher.

Admittedly, the defensive skills of the modern player far exceed those of Morphy's era, and this is largely why true opening gambits are rarer, at least at elevated levels of play. But if your forte is playing Live Chess at time controls in the Blitz or Bullet range, practical chances abound for all but the most dubious of gambits.

As in most games, the more experienced or familiar one is with the opening, the better one's chances are, though strong players can often make up for that with sound principles (e.g., give the material back at an appropriate time, etc.).

Gambit play is often an important part of a developing chess career. It teaches the importance of strong tactical vision, the extreme value of time, and the tenacity to play down material. Though we don't see much real gambit play at the top echelons of chess, you can bet that ALL those players have played hundreds if not thousands of speed games with gambit themes during their development as players.

So ... play gambits, have fun, learn ...

i've played this before (as well as the goring gambit which is currently my preferred opening). it's quite a fun and exciting opening to play for sure.

as an 1. e4 player, i love when my opponent plays the philidor defense. so many attacking opportunities. i have no problem giving up an extra pawn in the bird gambit and going on the offensive.

I never played this before but I might try it sometime.

Username/post combo FTW!

why would i  play nxc3 immedietly? why cant i just play bc4 after dxc3 and castle??

Why is this unpopular?

Who the hell ever plays the philador anymore?!?!

blackknight im sorry but thats not how the bird gambit works

I think the main problem with it is that it has unnecessary risk when simply Nxd4 gives white a nice, active position with no cost. The one extra developed piece is nice, but is it really worth giving up a pawn just for that? It may be playable, but unlike this gambit Nxd4 gets the best of both worlds.

As nice as white's position may look, these days in high level play defensive skill has become really, really good and they often tough positions like this one out, where the only compensation is the development which can be slowly neutralized perhaps. The point is black's game is much more solid than it looks, and in the hands of a good defender attacking it still won't be easy. Against a mediocre defender, sure they could collapse and allow a really huge attack. I probably would lol.

elubas thats a very good point you have, i suppose you are right, but don't suck the fun out this, plus i dont like the main line of the philidor's defense its too boring!, and hypertroll please look at bd3, e5, or Qc2 instead of Qxd4 :P

Qxd4 is just a quick way to equalize.  But you wouldn't have played the gambit in the first place if that was your goal.  You would mostly want black to waste a tempo so you can develop, typically with Nxc3.

After 5. .. Nf6, I think 6.Bb5+ is probably a better move.  Black will have to waste more time defending, cramping his position (almost forces c6 to avoid this), and you'll be ready to castle.  White can then call the shots for most of the game.

im not so sure, i was hoping more of chess.com would be of help to me ;)

It would get me, I only know of the capablanca defense to the goring, that would hardly work here!

Nonetheless it's hard seeing a refutation.  I probably would play Nf6 going into cxd4 Nxd4 with white having a very small edge in unexplored territory.

"Black will have to waste more time defending, cramping his position"

How is c6 or Bd7 wasting time?  c6 Bd3 d5 Nc3 Nd7 Nxe4 dxe4 Bxe4 Nf6 is easy equality, and that's just me looking for an easy way out, there's probably a better line in there!

 Yeah. I know I didn't understand it but I was just thinking about it and how it doesn't seem bad to decline the gambit. It isn't like other gambit where if you DON'T take it, it will hurt you in the long run.

 By wasting time, I mean white will be at least 1 tempo ahead while black goes after the gambit pawn.  White checks with Bb5+, and now black is forced to respond, either with c6, Bd7, or Nbd7, all of which are not great moves (with maybe the exception of c6)...

6. .. c6  7.Bd3 d5  8.exd5 Nxd5  9.O-O

6. .. Bd7  7.Qb3 Nc6  8.O-O

6. .. Nbd7  7.O-O 

After white's O-O in all lines, I think his position is pretty decent, he's brought an extra piece out and there's no lasting side-effect from the gambit.

interesting, thanks.

Bah I mixed up lines sorry.  Refutation to what i said is e5.

Yes to be honest Nxd4 doesn't really lead to a big attack unless black makes a few (more? jk) unwise opening moves like ...h6 or something. In fact I'm not a big fan of a white plan with moves like Bc4 and f4 at an early stage, because, once black is castled, his kingside is surprisingly safe and white may actually have to start worrying about his e4 pawn. I think better is the more restrained, positional approach of putting the bishop on e2, and if f4 is played for space then putting the bishop on f3 to defend the e pawn and eye the center. At some point white can try Nd5 and induce either ...c6 or an exchange, leaving white with a pawn on d5 and a nice space advantage. White will try to pressure the d file (maybe d6 pawn if c6 is in), and keep black's pieces from finding good squares and only then will he start seriously expanding on the flanks. From there he'll be looking to make a thematic breakthrough wherever it's most powerful.

Because so many people will want to attack this opening, the philidor is a nice psychological and stylistic choice for those who like to defend and slowly improve the position, while the big attackers will be frustrated. You need to play a little accurately early on though as black, as one bad move can either lose tactically, or give white enough time to truly launch a good attack.

In the bird gambit, white has more attacking chances, but not too many. Black's game is still very solid after he's castled.