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Thoughts on Bird's Opening...

Thoughts on Bird's Opening...

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Originally posted by mateulose
This may shock some people, but against the bird's opening, I play 1...c5

Nothing is more satisfying then seeing my opponent play the Bird's, thinking I'll be surprised, but the second he sees c5 as a response, he suddenly pauses for a whole 2 min in a blitz game! 😲
1. f4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 g6 4. Bb5 Bg7 5. 0-0 Nf6.

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I've played black against Bird three times, and lost all three. So, personally, I don't like it. 😉

Game 433798
[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2004.03.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "David G"]
[Black "fawcr01"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[GameId "433798"]

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e3 Bg4 4.Be2 f6 5.O-O Bxf3 6.Bxf3 e5 7.Nc3 d4 8.Ne4 f5
9.Ng5 h6 10.Bh5+ Kd7 11.Nf7 Qh4 12.Nxh8 Nf6 13.Bg6 Ke6 14.fxe5 Ng4 15.
Bxf5+ Ke7 16.Ng6+ Ke8 17.Bxg4 Qg5 18.Rxf8# 1-0

Game 497706
[Event "Clan"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2004.05.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Edmond Dantes"]
[Black "fawcr01"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[GameId "497706"]

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.g3 Bf5 5.Bg2 e6 6.O-O Bc5+ 7.e3 d4 8.e4 Bg4
9.Nbd2 O-O 10.Kh1 Bxf3 11.Nxf3 Ng4 12.Qe2 e5 13.f5 Qe7 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 15.
Qxg4 g6 16.Qd1 h5 17.c3 Nb5 18.a4 Nd6 19.b4 b6 20.bxc5 bxc5 21.Bh6 Rfb8
22.Qd2 c4 23.f6 Qe6 24.Bg7 Ne8 25.Qh6 Nxg7 26.Qxg7# 1-0

Game 522875
[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2004.09.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "trekkie"]
[Black "fawcr01"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[EventDate "2004.05.27"]
[GameId "522875"]

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Nc6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Bb5 a6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.O-O Bg7 8.Nbd2
Bf5 9.c4 O-O 10.c5 Bd3 11.Re1 e6 12.Ne5 Qe8 13.Nxd3 Ne4 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.
Nf2 f5 16.Nh1 h6 17.Ng3 g5 18.Bd2 gxf4 19.exf4 Bxd4+ 20.Be3 Bxe3+ 21.Rxe3
e5 22.Qb3+ Kh7 23.Qb7 Qd7 24.Qb3 exf4 25.Rc3 fxg3 26.Rxg3 Qd4+ 27.Kh1 f4
28.Rg4 Qf2 29.Rb1 f3 30.gxf3 exf3 31.Rbg1 Qe2 32.Qd1 Rae8 33.Qd7+ Re7 34.
Qxc6 f2 35.Qg6+ Kh8 36.Qxh6+ Rh7 37.Qxf8# 1-0

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Originally posted by fawcr01
I've played black against Bird three times, and lost all three. So, personally, I don't like it. 😉

Game 433798
[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2004.03.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "David G"]
[Black "fawcr01"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[GameId "433798"]

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e3 B ...[text shortened]... f3 exf3 31.Rbg1 Qe2 32.Qd1 Rae8 33.Qd7+ Re7 34.
Qxc6 f2 35.Qg6+ Kh8 36.Qxh6+ Rh7 37.Qxf8# 1-0
Try 1.f4 e5 2. f.e d6 3. e.d B.d6 4. Nf3 g5 5. d4 g4.

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I just checked the stats on that c5 idea, Mateoulose. White won 32% of those games and black won 42%. A lot of moves appear to be good against the Bird. That's why you should know your stuff cold when working with the Bird. It's a nasty Bird and would just as soon turn its talons against the owner. (Sorry for metaphor, just couldn't resist)

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Originally posted by buddy2
I just checked the stats on that c5 idea, Mateoulose. White won 32% of those games and black won 42%. A lot of moves appear to be good against the Bird. That's why you should know your stuff cold when working with the Bird. It's a nasty Bird and would just as soon turn its talons against the owner. (Sorry for metaphor, just couldn't resist)
Which is HUGE, what other opening does black win 42% of the time and white only wins 32%? The idea behind c5, is that you are not falling into white's trap of directly fighting for the center and giving him an open F file for his rook. In fact, the advance of the f pawn is suddenly weakening, white's king is open to attacks via the diagonal, and white's queenside isn't any better. When I started playing c5 and always won against the Bird, I officially removed it from my reperatoire, but I did play it a few odd games, but now, almost never.

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Originally posted by fawcr01
I've played black against Bird three times, and lost all three. So, personally, I don't like it. 😉

Game 433798
[Event "Grand Split Three Seven"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2004.03.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "David G"]
[Black "fawcr01"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[GameId "433798"]

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e3 B ...[text shortened]... f3 exf3 31.Rbg1 Qe2 32.Qd1 Rae8 33.Qd7+ Re7 34.
Qxc6 f2 35.Qg6+ Kh8 36.Qxh6+ Rh7 37.Qxf8# 1-0
I would not naturally pout my match against the Bird played by Dantes or David G. I dared you to swap queens and you declined allowing my to create a queen checkmate that I am proud of, though the rest of my play is not exactly textbook.


Good match and I did enjoy it.

-trekkie