Chess Opening Theory/1. f4

Bird's Opening
	Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/5P2/8/PPPPP1PP/RNBQKBNR
	Moves: 1. f4
	ECO code: A02-A03
	Parent: Starting position

1. f4 - Bird's Opening

This is not a very common move because it somewhat weakens the e1-h4 diagonal; its aim is to over-protect the e5 square which later can be occupied by a White Knight. It could also prepare a kingside attack. Black sometimes attempts to stop this plan as early as move one, by responding with e5, the From Gambit.

Statistics

Approximate chances: White win 35%, Draw 25%, Black win 39%

Estimated next move popularity: d5 49%, Nf6 15%, e5 11%, c5 9%, g6 8%, d6 2%. Other moves less than 0.5%.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables see theory table and for notation see algebraic notation

1. f4

	1	2	3	4
	f4 d5	Nf3 Nf6	e3 g6	Be2 Bg7	=
	... Nf6	Nf3 g6	e3 Bg7	Be2 O-O	=
	... e6	g4 Qh4#	N/A N/A	N/A N/A	0-1
From Gambit	... e5	fxe5 d6	exd6 Bxd6	Nf3 Nf6	∞
Symmetric Variation	... f5					∞
	... g6	Nf3 d5	e3 Bg7	d4 Nh6	=

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References

Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

Modern Chess Openings: MCO-14. 1999. Nick de Firmian, Walter Korn. ISBN 0-8129-3084-3.

Batsford Chess Openings 2 (1989, 1994). Garry Kasparov, Raymond Keene. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.

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