Why lower rated players should learn bird's opening

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This forum is Hilarious.

The OP said beginners should learn how to play the Birds Opening so they can learn new ways of getting spanked.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!

For a low low ranking you can also play a Mainline Sicilian Defence and learn how to get spanked against a strong player in that as well.

X_Player, I agree with you 100%.  Plus, those strong players will open up that Sicilian quickly and bust you up, bc they are more booked on it.  

Bird's Opening is a more solid, hypermodern type of opening.  

Ideally when you open up with f4, you need a knight on f3 to control the centre squares and stop the check on h4.

Wire, this is correct in a sense.  The vast majority of Bird lines have an early Nf3.  Not all, but most.  There are some lines White can also play (which is more popular in 1. Nc3 theory):

petrosianpupil wrote:

Especially suggesting g5 which gives white 3 options that an unprepared black will struggle with. Add to that whites KG options, or Henrik's decline the pawn line or what I used to win most of my games with a simple e6. Their is a reason that top players don't play the from, there are much better anti birds lines.

Study a setup using pawns on g5,h5, and f6. There really is no reason to give white equality when you can destroy any chance he has using any space advantage.

Defiled, for one, if Black plays ...g5, he normally pushes to ...g4.  However, let's claim just that setup and make a mock-shift setup (although I have never seen someone leave the pawn on ...g5):

You know, I would debate that to understand some elements of From's Gambit, it is important to study the King's Gambit as well.  There are some old lines that are similar in nature to From's Gambit (especially in some of these ...g5 lines, where White builds an enormous pawn center and Black uses piece play to provoke weaknesses in White's setup).

Let's think here for just a moment - ...g5 was a part of the normal chess player's thinking, with the prevalence of the King's Gambit Accepted:

The Bird's Opening player would be well advised to study the King's Gambit and understand some of the piece play in the opening (as well as pawn structures).

I will try it,seems perfect to me 

I don't like black's setup in that game. If you want we can go to an analysis board and look at it, but im not a big fan of the way you are interepreating it as it is to be played.

This is fine.  I will send you an unrated takebacks game and we can discuss ideas that way.  However, I am basing it upon your structure of ...g5, ...h5 and ...f6.

I would prefer to play unrated on live birdbrain.

Defiled, we can, but then we cannot discuss the position.  But we can do that as well, if you like.

We can discuss on live! Have you ever used it before? :D You're in for a treat!

Ok, we played 2 games.  The result is not as important as the idea that Defiled was bringing to the table, so we will discuss that idea, since it is critical to his concept of attacking the Bird.  I have not really seen this line before, so afterwards I plugged the position into Fritz to get its thoughts on it.  

Here is the first game:

Here is the second game:

As is said, the results don't matter...the crux revolves around ...f6, in my opinion.  I think that if Black is going to play this approach with ...g5 (and ...h5), he must be willing to sacrifice pawns if necessary to open lines to tear open White's position and get at the king.

In the game, I decided upon 7. Qd3.  I had never seen these positions before, but I was aware of the idea of Qd3 in these types of positions - not only to activate my pieces, but also to highlight the weakened g6 square.  

In the first game, he played ...Rh6, which I felt was awkward, since I don't think the rook belongs there.  The second game involved a more speculative attack with ...Bxg3, which was kind of interesting to me, but I felt White still had some okay chances there.  

I plugged the games into Fritz, to get its opinions.  It prefers 7. Nc3 over Qd3, but I don't like its ideas - its idea (although it is creative) is to play 8. Rg1 and then...shuffle pieces.  It just doesn't feel natural to me.  Therefore, I liked Qd3 more.  

I did discuss that I could have continued with Bg2 instead of e4, but I think e4 is a more bold approach.  It is gutsy, and White must be careful about opening the position that early.  From a practical stance, Bg2 is better.  He followed up with a speculative gambit in ...h4, which I felt was not right, since he blocked his queen with ...f6, which is needed for the attack.  Fritz thinks e5 is slightly better, but also likes my gxh4 idea. 

After g4, once again!  Fritz is saying e5, but Bxh6 seems more natural.  I decided at this point to go for "wild chess" and play e5, but Fritz agreed that I should have retreated my bishop, or played Qb5+.  Be3 would have been the better thought out move. 

Fritz did think Bc4 was the best idea here.  It is a typical attacking pattern White gets in certain From's lines I play (like the Ng5?! attack). I had debated on 14. Qg8+, but wanted to play classically (I guess??) with Nc3, getting all pieces into play for the attack.  

After a think, it did like 15. 0-0-0, and I am happy that it agreed with me not to take the bishop on b2.  It seems like it allowed Black too much leeway.  It prefers Qg8+, with my exf6 in 2nd place.  

It actually preferred 17. Kxb2, but I wanted to not take it once again, for the same reasons I just mentioned...It prefers 18. Bxf7+, but I wanted to finish development and then use my rook to harass his king and queen.  

At move 20, we discussed either Qg8 or Re8.  I couldn't decide, and he said I needed to play Qg8 for the win.  It shows I still have tactics I need to work on.  Fritz gave M5 for Qg8, but no mate for Re8.

In the second game, he plays the gambit 7...Bxg3, which Fritz gives as a big mistake.  In the game, I thought it was interesting, since I had never faced it - I would think it might be cool as a bullet gambit.  He does follow it up with Fritz's #1 suggestion, ....Qd6.  At this point, I am noticing that I can play Qg6 AND I have a couple of options with my rook - I can either go to g1, or I can play for a wilder continuation by taking the h-pawn.  I ultimately decide on the wilder line with Qg6+ and then the rook idea.  Fritz actually prefers moves like 9. Nc3 and gambitting the g-pawn!

Fritz doesn't like my 10. Rxh5 idea as well, but I felt it was safe enough to win another pawn here.  Understandably, Fritz still prefers to get the knight out.

I did find what Fritz says is the best follow-up to 12...Bg4, with 13. Qh1.  It also likes Qh2.  Fritz does not like his sack of the knight on e5 at all, rather preferring something like ...Re8.  After dxN Rd8+, I could have actually came in with Nbd2, which was a necessary idea in a couple of moves anyway to play for e4 and to get my bishop active.  

I felt that 17...b5 was ambitious, but just too slow to achieve its idea.  Fritz prefers 18. Qg2 to trade the ladies off, but my eyes were now on Nbd2 and e4.  

Fritz liked 21. Nd4.  I had thought about this move previously, but it would have been lost in a tactic - I would have to go through the game carefully to find out where I was thinking about this previously.  I think 21...Bc4 just aided me on getting uncorked.  The intermezzo ...Rxd4 was a good move, Fritz liked it equal to ...Qf2+.

Fritz says I missed a huge move in 24. Qh7, but I had my eyes on the simple and good Bxc4.  I chose 25. Kc3 to keep my pawns intact, but then realized the fragile nature of my d-pawn.  26. Qf1 is not the best move according to Fritz, but from a practical standpoint, it trades off his firepower to make the ending smoother.  

The rest I won't comment on, it was simply trying to alleviate the material from the board, and play for a win in the endgame.

Ultimately, we talked throughout the games and discussed ideas, which is very nice!  Hopefully we both learned a couple of things along the way.

BirdBrain: Nice work! I appreciate your tone and writing.

Thanks man. There is an attack that I had mentioned to him that goes along these paths:

Here is a game featuring this idea:

Black has the two bishops, but White has a pawn advantage, both central pawns, AND has managed to equalize Black's immediate threats after 18. e3.  Black does attempt to muster up another attack, but White is able to defuse this one as well.  

On a sidenote, discussing the more positional aspects of the Bird - sometimes I like to play on other servers, for kicks.  Today I was on a Facebook server.  The time limit is 2min/move.  These games can be quite long, but it also gives you more leeway if you have to run to the restroom really fast, or grab some water.

Anyway, I played into a positional line of the Bird, allowing the early attacking setup of Nc6/Bf5/Nb4 planning to whip me on c2.  IF White is not aware of this and is just blitzing moves, it will likely cost him the game (unless he has a great tactical resource up his sleeve).  If White is prepared, the attacked is easily repelled and Black has wasted moves.  Not just that...his initial plan is not good, so he must come up with another plan, which will cost him time.

Another idea I played here (which I haven't read much in books, but have been trying more recently) is Nd4 rather than Ne5.  Since it is not as anticipated, Black often has to figure out different ways to deal with this move.  Also, it adds extra control over f5, which is a theme of the Bird.  

Here is the game I played:

Okay, last one for the day...but these are good examples of playing the Bird, with all of its possibilities for error and creative play...this game was wild and stressful, but fun, and ultimately my opponent blundered into an endgame that was favorable for me.

I think the reason I am posting these games is to give a contrary statement to the OP - that if you study and understand the ideas, I debate that you might even have more fun playing 1. f4 than other openings, because it is less about theory and more about positional understanding. 

A totally flip side to the convo is learning a great defense against 1. d4 (and against basically all non-e4 openings) - the Dutch Defense.

Here is a live game I just finished.  It was pretty much even, but towards the end he began to run out of ideas it seemed, and I was able to nab one of the doubled pawns (part of the theme of this style of defense).  He suddenly resigned, but even then...he still had chances.

So, not only are you learning a viable offense when you learn 1. f4, but you will learn principles that carry over to the Black pieces with the Dutch Defense. 

There are much more aggressive setups against the dutch than your opponent did.  There are many weapons that can black uncomfortable from the very beginning.

Also when I play online using bird's opening, I face early ...bf5 from black a lot.  It effectively prevents the double pawn center that white tries to achieve.  Most text books I read recommends fianchetto by black on the kingside, but your game that you described as a positional way to meet the bird's open is very typical of what I saw.  Usually black forgoes king side fianchetto, plays bf5, castles queenside, and goes for a kingside pawnstorm.  This type of game does not bother me.