Bird Opening
1. f4
The Bird Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A02, reached after 1. f4. Black is to move. 10 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 134,486 times by this move order. White won 49%, 5% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 1… d5 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.23 (Stockfish, depth 56; best line 1… Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. e3 d5 4. Bb5+)
- ECO
- A02
- Moves
- 1 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/5P2/8/PPPPP1PP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1- PGN
1. f4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 41,462 | |
| 1500-1999 | 76,892 | |
| 2000+ | 16,132 | |
| All | 134,486 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1… d5 Dutch Variation | 51,592 (38%) | |
| 1… e6 | 13,520 (10%) | |
| 1… c5 | 12,392 (9%) | |
| 1… e5 From's Gambit | 12,209 (9%) | |
| 1… Nf6 | 8,806 (7%) | |
| 1… Nc6 | 7,159 (5%) | |
| 1… c6 | 6,542 (5%) | |
| 1… d6 | 6,400 (5%) |
Master games
5,697 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 15%, Black 42%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.33-dev-f6ec55c-BT4-6147500-it332 (3749) – Berserk 20250622 (3667) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-10
- Berserk 20250622 (3667) – LCZero 0.33-dev-f6ec55c-BT4-6147500-it332 (3749) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-08
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) – GM So, W. (2815) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017 · 2017-11-18
- GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2801) – GM Anish Giri (2782) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 3m+1spm 2018 · 2018-09-07
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2781) 0-1 · 3rd Norway Blitz 2015 · 2015-06-15
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM AlexTriapishko (2814) – DikiyDjo (2691) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- BEagles1903 (2698) – IM khubushka2007 (2797) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- BEagles1903 (2688) – ScaryIndianJunior (2802) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Continuations
- Bird Opening: Dutch Variation A03 · 1. f4 d5
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit A02 · 1. f4 e5
- Bird Opening: Hobbs Gambit A02 · 1. f4 g5
- Bird Opening: Horsefly Defense A02 · 1. f4 Nh6
- Bird Opening: Myers Defense A02 · 1. f4 b5
- Bird Opening: Mujannah A02 · 1. f4 Nf6 2. c4
- Bird Opening: Wagner-Zwitersch Gambit A02 · 1. f4 f5 2. e4
- Bird Opening: Double Duck Formation A02 · 1. f4 f5 2. d4 d5
- Bird Opening: Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit A02 · 1. f4 h6 2. Nf3 g5
- Bird Opening: Batavo-Polish Attack A02 · 1. f4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. b4
More Bird Opening lines (all)
- 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: Lasker Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Platz Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Schlechter Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Siegener Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Swiss Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Dutch Variation, Dudweiler Gambit A03
- Bird Opening: Lasker Variation A03
- Bird Opening: Sturm Gambit A03
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.