Bird Opening: Sturm Gambit
1. f4 d5 2. c4
The Bird Opening: Sturm Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO A03, reached after 1. f4 d5 2. c4. It is a line of the Bird Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 449 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 2… dxc4 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.60 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 2… d4 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Na3)
- ECO
- A03
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/2P2P2/8/PP1PP1PP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. f4 d5 2. c4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 117 | |
| 1500-1999 | 259 | |
| 2000+ | 73 | |
| All | 449 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… dxc4 | 161 (36%) | |
| 2… d4 | 103 (23%) | |
| 2… c6 | 56 (12%) | |
| 2… Nf6 | 45 (10%) | |
| 2… e6 | 31 (7%) | |
| 2… Bf5 | 14 (3%) | |
| 2… Nc6 | 12 (3%) | |
| 2… c5 | 9 (2%) |
Master games
32 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 13%, Black 53%). The strongest:
- IM Harshavardhan G B (2397) – IM Bojan Maksimovic (2451) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 14th Dec · 2021-12-14
- IM Felix Jose Ynojosa Aponte (2448) – IM Julian Estrada Nieto (2278) 1/2-1/2 · 3rd Panama Open · 2013-11-05
- GM Aleksandr Shimanov (2578) – Evgenij Shuvalov (2079) 0-1 · Titled Tue 7th Nov Early · 2023-11-07
- FM Gabriel Petesch (2330) – FM Arman Erzhanov (2229) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 23rd Nov · 2021-11-23
- IM Kamran Shirazi (2349) – CM Raphael Mayaud (2202) 0-1 · Titled Arena Apr 3rd 2021 · 2021-04-03
Search all games of the Bird Opening: Sturm Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM KamranShirazi (2440) – GM FCChelsea14 (2636) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- jouerechecsenligne (2418) – LOVEHRJ (2583) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
- IM KamranShirazi (2414) – Noname52 (2560) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Bird Opening: Dutch Variation 1. f4 d5
More Bird Opening lines (all)
- Bird Opening A02
- 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
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.