Bird Opening: Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit
1. f4 h6 2. Nf3 g5
The Bird Opening: Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO A02, reached after 1. f4 h6 2. Nf3 g5. It is a line of the Bird Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 37 times by this move order. White won 46%, 5% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 3. fxg5 (41% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.51 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 3. e4 g4 4. Ne5 h5 5. d4 d6)
- ECO
- A02
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppppp2/7p/6p1/5P2/5N2/PPPPP1PP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. f4 h6 2. Nf3 g5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 16 | |
| 1500-1999 | 14 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 37 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. fxg5 | 15 (41%) | |
| 3. g3 | 6 (16%) | |
| 3. d3 | 6 (16%) | |
| 3. f5 | 3 (8%) | |
| 3. d4 | 3 (8%) | |
| 3. e3 | 3 (8%) | |
| 3. e4 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 0%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- GM Alvar Alonso Rosell (2559) – FM Orest Vovk (2315) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Apr 2026 · 2026-04-28
- CM Lancelot von Naso (2214) – IM Boris Abrashkin (2407) 0-1 · Titled Tue 10th Dec Early · 2024-12-10
Search all games of the Bird Opening: Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM j_coca (2343) – detective_378 (2355) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- chancellor8 (2290) – firebolt09 (2404) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- FM j_coca (2323) – detective_378 (2322) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Bird Opening 1. f4
More Bird Opening lines (all)
- Bird Opening: Batavo-Polish Attack A02
- Bird Opening: Double Duck Formation A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Bahr Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Langheld Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Lasker Variation A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Lipke Variation A02
- Bird Opening: Hobbs Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Horsefly Defense A02
- Bird Opening: Lasker Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Mujannah A02
- Bird Opening: Myers Defense A02
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.