Bird Opening: Myers Defense
1. f4 b5
The Bird Opening: Myers Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A02, reached after 1. f4 b5. 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 194 times by this move order. White won 52%, 4% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 2. Nf3 (56% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.03 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 2. e4 Bb7 3. Bxb5 Bxe4 4. Nf3 Nc6)
- ECO
- A02
- Moves
- 2 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/p1pppppp/8/1p6/5P2/8/PPPPP1PP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. f4 b5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 73 | |
| 1500-1999 | 98 | |
| 2000+ | 23 | |
| All | 194 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2. Nf3 | 109 (56%) | |
| 2. e4 | 26 (13%) | |
| 2. d4 | 19 (10%) | |
| 2. e3 | 10 (5%) | |
| 2. d3 | 5 (3%) | |
| 2. g3 | 5 (3%) | |
| 2. g4 | 4 (2%) | |
| 2. b3 | 4 (2%) |
Master games
42 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 14%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2841) – GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2605) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 2nd Jul 2026 · 2026-07-02
- GM Mihail Marin (2522) – GM Alexei Shirov (2658) 0-1 · CellaVision Cup 2019 · 2019-08-03
- GM Jules Moussard (2626) – GM Sune Berg Hansen (2533) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 12th Jan · 2021-01-12
- GM Denis Makhnev (2466) – GM Sune Berg Hansen (2512) 1-0 · Titled Tue 26th Sep Early · 2023-09-26
- IM Piotr Nguyen (2393) – GM Vitaly Kunin (2555) 1-0 · Max Zavanelli Mem Open · 2018-10-22
Search all games of the Bird Opening: Myers Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM IrrelevantAgain (2615) – lackbiTe65 (2575) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- IM KamranShirazi (2438) – lackbiTe65 (2603) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- L26sara (2225) – orangelady (2600) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 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: Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Horsefly Defense A02
- Bird Opening: Lasker Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Mujannah 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.