Bird Opening: Williams Gambit (3… Nf6 4. Qe2)
1. f4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Qe2
The Bird Opening: Williams Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO A03, reached after 1. f4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Qe2. 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 18 times by this move order. White won 56%, 0% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 4… Bf5 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: −1.39 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 4… Bf5 5. Qb5+ Bd7 6. Qe2 Bg4 7. Qe3)
- ECO
- A03
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/8/4pP2/2N5/PPPPQ1PP/R1B1KBNR b KQkq - 3 4- PGN
1. f4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Qe2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 12 | |
| All | 18 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Bf5 | 8 (44%) | |
| 4… Bg4 | 6 (33%) | |
| 4… Bd7 | 1 (6%) | |
| 4… b6 | 1 (6%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 1 (6%) | |
| 4… Qd4 | 1 (6%) |
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sneedy (1959) – Lagartodh (1967) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
- Sneedy (1966) – Kligedobrie (1959) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
- Sneedy (1920) – AHMAD200839383 (1956) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Bird Opening: Williams Gambit (1… d5 2. e4) 1. f4 d5 2. e4
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.