I looked at your games and apart from one game where there was a timeout after a few moves there isn´t a single Bird´s opening game. It´s a little hard to give advice on that basis. Try typing Bird´s opening into google.
The only tip I can think of is that it´s important to get Nf3 in as quickly as possible after 1. f4. This prevents some nasty situations where black gets the queen to h4. You need to avoid stuff like this:
check out GM danielsen's site. there's loads of information for reversed leningrad dutch, which technically is a bird of course. also 110 blitz games with commentary, which are great for learning the characteristics of the opening.
Originally posted by RabbitCold Thanks Wormwood. Is the leningard more aggressive than the classical bird?
well, 'aggressive' seems like the wrong word, but maybe 'dynamic' fits better. it starts out a bit slow, but builds up great momentum and often ends up as a reckless kingside pawn storm. at least the way I'm playing it.
the downside is that the first moves for black are all natural and easy (except 1.f4 f5 which is quite nasty for black). but there's practically no theory after that, so understanding the related positions gives a huge edge.
and it all works similarly in the normal unreversed leningrad, so you get a defence for everything but 1.e4 as well. as white it works against everything.
Originally posted by Nowakowski What happens to the Bird against a strong Sicilian?
with reversed leningrad it's pretty much irrelevant whether black plays first c5 or d5. it'll transpose almost invariably. but you can play GPA if you like. I'm not sure why a bird player should agree to play on the sicilian terms though, as getting away from its theory is probably one of the reasons to play bird in the first place.
Originally posted by RabbitCold Anyone play the Bird that can give me some tips?
there are some opening books in .ctg format, or databases for specific openings exclusively. I would suggest to find several of them (by google), and if you really want to add it to your repertuare, play the opening exclusively and A LOT for a LONG while.
I use this technique for a year now, and am amazed by the difficulty of understanding even one single opening. it just doesn't end. and bird's opening is one that once you are solidly prepared, you have an immediate edge in the game against 90% of the players, and I don't know much about it, but I'm guessing that with some careful study and an eye on traspositions, you can build up a very strict-narrow repertuare with it. so it's worth investing the time.
Originally posted by DeepThought One possibility is 1. f4 c5 2. e4 and the Grand Prix attack.
True, but this move order is less favorable for white, because it allows for 2...d5! 3exd5 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6! favoring black- normally, white plays 2. Nc3 to avoid this.
Originally posted by chesskid001 True, but this move order is less favorable for white, because it allows for 2...d5! 3exd5 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6! favoring black- normally, white plays 2. Nc3 to avoid this.
The Tal defence is a personal favorite. I just want to encourage opponents with the white pieces to play it 😉
It depends what you like. 2. Nf3 is always a good move. Since white is hoping for a pretty direct king side attack black showing intent to castle short is good news. If black plays d3 then there is less pressure on the centre which should favour white. It´s worth being able to carry out the GPA so that you can choose depending on how well you think black will cope with it, compared with the other possibilities after 1. f4.
Originally posted by DeepThought I looked at your games and apart from one game where there was a timeout after a few moves there isn´t a single Bird´s opening game. It´s a little hard to give advice on that basis. Try typing Bird´s opening into google.
The only tip I can think of is that it´s important to get Nf3 in as quickly as possible after 1. f4. This prevents some nasty sit ...[text shortened]... + 6.hxg3 Bxg3# 0-1
[/pgn]
If white plays 4. Nf3 he´s fine.
Edits: fixing pgn
Even after 4. Nf3. I play ...g5
and white needs to find 5. d4 or 5. g3 or he is lost.
Most commonly 5. g3 and after 5... g4
6. Nh4 needs to be found again.
6... Be7 and 7. Ng2 is the only move.
This sort of "only playable move" thing happens a lot for white in a few lines of the bird, so I would not play it unless you're willing to learn all of these correct moves.
Originally posted by doodinthemood Even after 4. Nf3. I play ...g5
and white needs to find 5. d4 or 5. g3 or he is lost.
Most commonly 5. g3 and after 5... g4
6. Nh4 needs to be found again.
6... Be7 and 7. Ng2 is the only move.
This sort of "only playable move" thing happens a lot for white in a few lines of the bird, so I would not play it unless you're willing to learn all of these correct moves.
it's like an early christmas for a bird player when people try to pull that one off. the very first thing you learn.
(what the...?? I tried to pull a an example from chess.com, but apparently you can't access your old games as a nonsub after they disappear from the 'recent games' list. well that does it, I'm done with chess.com.)
Originally posted by doodinthemood Even after 4. Nf3. I play ...g5
and white needs to find 5. d4 or 5. g3 or he is lost.
Most commonly 5. g3 and after 5... g4
6. Nh4 needs to be found again.
6... Be7 and 7. Ng2 is the only move.
This sort of "only playable move" thing happens a lot for white in a few lines of the bird, so I would not play it unless you're willing to learn all of these correct moves.
There is no opening you can play where your opponent can´t sharpen the position. You may as well say don´t play chess in case you have to learn some sharp lines.
OTB you might have a point, but there´s nothing so complicated that you can´t work it out there and then - this isn´t something like the Polugaevsky where you really do need to learn copious numbers of variations off by heart.
Here we are playing correspondence chess and a book or database, used properly, will protect you from the worst possibilities.
Anyone wanting to play 1. f4, but desperate to avoid From´s gambit can always try 1. f4 e5 2. e4 which is well known to be playable.
Birds Opening
08 Dec '08 04:52
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