What do you think about this opening? Feel free to
post any stories or games related

Which variations do you have in mind in particular? Are you going to fianchetto the bishop to g2?

I think of Bird's (that's how 1. f4 is called) as of a reversed Dutch, so it can be played like the Stonewall (placing pawns on f4, e3, d4, c3, the bishop on d3 as soon as possible) or like the Leningrad (g3, Bg2, d3, trying to respond by e4 to Black's d5-d4; queen's knight often goes to c4 through a3).

Black will usually respond 1... d5, so getting e4 in is the biggest problem for White. The light-square bishop remains 'bad' - blocked by own pawns, by f4 in particular.

I don't see so far how White's extra tempo can be used to make Bird's a really ambitious opening. I'm afraid it will score about 50% of points vs a same-skill Black player, whereas White should of course aim for 53-55%.

There's been some banter on the Stonewall formation recently in the LC thread, starting from this post, in case you didn't notice.

I'd be glad to learn about any other piece setup ideas that would allow to score well with 1. f4.

Meanwhile, you can click through opening moves in free databases (database.chessbase.com, chesstempo.com, FICSgames.org) to see how well they (and mirror Dutch Defence (1. d4 f5) lines for Black) have scored in past games. (Interpret them with caution because transpositions may make results misleading, don't trust them that much if there were too few games played in a certain position. FICSgames results can be especially biased because a lot of games in a variation can belong to a single strong computer that plays it on that server, and don't forget to tick 'Include transpositions' there, otherwise you'll be shown only games with the same exact move order.)

When using this statistical approach, always ask yourself why a certain variation scores so well or poorly, what the positional / tactical reasons for that are.

It's also useful to read what Wikipedia tells about an opening, it's usually quite informative; here's its article about Bird's Opening.

It doesn't mention 1. f4 d5 2. b3, which, according to Chesstempo, has the best performance rating difference (with opponents' average rating) among White's 2nd moves: 2154 - 2129 = +23 [in the 2200+ sub-database, it's even negative: 2353 - 2364 = -11], which is still moderate - White should usually aim for +35 and above because his first move advantage means that he can occupy the centre by pawns and develop pieces onto better squares.

It's quite clear why 2. b3 is a decent try. The thing is that, in the Dutch, White usually plays 1. d4 f5 2. g3, making it difficult for Black to develop the light-square bishop to b7. As the c8-h3 diagonal is blocked longterm by the f5 pawn, the bishop remains out of play, going to d7 or sometimes e6, its functions being mainly defensive.

In the mirror view, when playing the reverse Dutch, White wants to put the potentially bad bishop onto b2 before Black makes it harder by g6 and Bg7. In this plan, 1. f4 serves the purpose of preventing e5, so that the fianchettoed bishop isn't blunted.

But 1. f4 isn't the only way of preventing 1... e5; 1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 (the Nimzo-Larsen Attack) is also a good way to fianchetto the queen's bishop early. I'm not sure which one is better, as I normally play the d4+c4+Nf3+d4+c4 setup (in any order) with White instead, which is only a bit less popular than 1. e4, very reliable and ambitious, though generally rather positional / 'boring'.

Oh wait. While examining databases, I've found a powerful response for Black to the 2. b3 Bird's which has no mirror analogue for White vs the Dutch. (You can still play 2. b3 vs the vast majority of players - those who don't like 2. Bg5 vs the Dutch. Otherwise you'll be toast.)

1. f4 d5 2. b3 Bg4 3. h3 Bh5 4. g4 e6! (5. gxh5?? Qh4#; e3 is superstandard in the corresponding 2. Bg5 Dutch line) 5. Nf3 Qf6! (exploiting the exposed long diagonal that Black doesn't have in the Dutch!) 6. d4 Bg6, and the position is totally ugly for White, e.g. 7. e3 Bb4+ 8. Bd2 Bd6, and White's dark-square bishop is misplaced on d2, while his LSB lacks the d3 square (will be traded off after appearing there).

Hence White has to play either 3. Bb2 (then Black swaps the knight off as soon as it appears on f3 or h3, busting White's pawn structure) or the reverse Leningrad, 1. f4 d5 2. b3 Bg4 3. g3, whose mirror analogue (g6) is an inferior (to h6) response to Bg5 in the Dutch.

It's not a very ambitious opening - Black has to do a lot of things wrong for you to get a big advantage from the opening. But it's fine if you just want to get a playable position and play chess.

I've played the Bird for a long stretch of time (in blitz and in CC, I have ~170 games in my personal database), ultimately giving it up because at a certain skill level Black generally makes the game less fun that I wanted. It's certainly fine and playable, will get you positions you are almost surely more familiar with than your opponent is. I used to use Bent Larsen's games as my main inspiration for how to play it.

I would play 3. e3 there, planning Be2. Playing 3. h3 seems unnecessarily weakening, especially as White was likely planning e2-e3 anyway in the lines that contain b2-b3.

3...Bxd1 is a slight problem.

Oh, ha, I was a move off. Yeah, Nf3 is needed first.

Yeah, but 3.Nf3 Bxf3 4.exf3 is just a pretty ugly pawn structure for White. Compared to the position with reversed colours after 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 Nf6 3.Bxf6 exf6, the extra move b3 is probably more a liability than a benefit.

Do you really play 2... Nf6 as a response to 1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 ? I find 2... h6 much better - if White drops the B to h4 (as opposed to f4), he'll lose a few tempi and make Black's development easier. Black's g-pawn march isn't really a time loss - Black would advance it anyway sooner or later on a good day in the Leningrad, and here he definitely has a good day - White has not enough time to prevent e5.

Stonewall players usually prevent 2. Bg5 by means of transposition - play 1. d4 e6 and 2... f5 unless White opts for 2. e4 (the French; which he usually doesn't do because e4 fans don't open with d4) - but I'm not really afraid of 2. Bg5 for the above reasons.

Yeah, it's been a while since I had such a good laugh, the move order sometimes matters

1. f4 is a strong opening and one of my favorites. it lets white go for a kingside attack immediately with ke1-f2-g3-g4-g5 and f4-f5-f6, and black has to play patient defense or risk being blown off the board. but as coon74 said, black can gain control of e4, so the more positional approach is to start with 1. f3 2. Kf2 3. g4 4. Kg3 and play it like a najdorf sicilian, pushing kingside pawns.

why?

Well, it looks as though White has problems with delivering Legal's mate after Bxd1

In the mainline Leningrad Dutch, h6 and Kf7 intending Nbd7 and e5 might be an idea, though; out of my head, I don't yet see a clear refutation (I've been yet lazy to feed the position to Stockfish).

Some coverage of e6 and g6 is alas needed to get Nbd7 in - a disaster happens if it's neglected. (The move order I was considering was of course not the one in that game, but 7... h6 8. d5 Nbd7?, which looks somewhat natural, but, surprisingly, is a cute blunder.)

Nope, Kg8-f7xe6 results in rampage (with exposed h6 and the e-file - White may also play Re1 and e4), Stockfish gives over +3 to White.

Edit: OK, Black can of course defend better, cover h6 by Rh8, but after White plays Nd4 and Be3, there's a problem with the b7 (or, after Rb8 - a7) pawn hanging after the long light diagonal is opened... Stockfish gives White over +1, I'll try to repair the sequence of moves for Black to make Kf7 work somehow

Sorry for being verbose about the Dutch, I feel it's relevant because White plays almost the same lines (with the colours changed and the board flipped) in Bird's.

Yeah, Black is just too cramped in that line to hold the position. It's a slow death, but still a death. Here's an example game.

So Black's best 7th moves in the mainline Leningrad are still Qe8, c6, Nc6!?, all of them facilitating e5 somehow, of course.

It's been awhile since I played the Dutch with Black, but I wouldn't play 2...Nf6 there no. I think 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 g6 is supposed to be the most reliable.

When I was a Dutch player, I used to think 2...h6 was busted by 3.Bh4 g5 4.e4, but a few years ago I played a game with White and after 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.e4 Nf6 5.e5 e6 I didn't get much from the opening.

The downside of 4. e4 is that the f4 square isn't covered, hence Black gets a chance to trap the bishop (but White will then of course get an attack). 4... Rh7 (to take the bishop but then, after Bf1-e2-h5+, give the exchange back) and 4... Bg7 are interesting possibilities. In the latter case, we have 5. Bg3 f4!? (fxe4 6. h4 etc) 6. Bxf4 gxf4 7. Qh5+ Kf8 8. Qf5+ Nf6 9. e5 with an unclear position.

Edit: out of those lines, 4... Bg7 5. Bg3 fxe4 6. h4 d5 7. hxg5 Nc6 seems the most reliable for Black (Qh5+ accomplishes nothing - White then can't really take on h6 because Black's Rxh6 is a skewer).

If anyone wants to follow, Nepomniachtchi-Karjakin is going on now in the Russian Championship.

Nepo (who often plays the Leningrad) started with f4/Nf3/g3/Bg2.

Follow live here.

Thanks for the link!

Curiously, Karjakin played 4... c6, which is usually used against KIA (without f4). I'm not sure if it was necessary here - it's rare in the Leningrad, normally the pawn is put on c5 (i.e. on c4 in the Dutch). I think Sergey reduced the mobility of his queen's knight with no need. Maybe he indeed confused the Leningrad Bird with KIA.

His Nh6-f5 is also interesting - somehow Sergey took note of the subtlety of the move order - strangely enough, Nepo hadn't castled. But I don't think Karjakin gained anything with this manoeuvre.

As of move 19, I think White is better. He has a space advantage, his knight is more active, his kingside pawns are ready to roll.

For high-level examples, Nakamura broke out the Bird's Opening at the 2010 World Blitz Championships, in games against Svidler, Karjakin, and Caruana (two draws and a win).

All three games began 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7

1.f4 doesn't prevent 1...e5, in fact I play it all the time.

For consistency I should play 1.f4 c5, which I will call the Sicilian Toilet Variation Invitation.

This is true. After 1. f4 e5, you should decide whether to accept the From's Gambit with 2. fxe5, or convert to a King's Gambit with 2. e4. Either way, neither is an opening you can just make up as you go and survive, so you should study both to learn and understand the 'correct' lines.

Btw, I played 1. f4 in one of the Malkovich games on this forum, and though I lost I feel it may be instructive and the comments help explain things about the opening: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/14...h-game-961085/ (though I might recommend against 4. b4 when you're just starting out with this opening).

Against 1.f4 in blitz I respond with 1...e5 play the from gambit, shove the g pawn down their throat and so far have a 100% success rate. Admittedly it's a small sample and against weaker opposition, usually no higher than the 1600s. In longer time controls against players I'd consider to be quite competent I think I'd go for the more positional approach.

Mostly I think it's because the players using the bird at that level in chess.com blitz games are usually the type who think they care getting their opponents out of book or are just going for a familiar stonewall set up. With e5 I seem to always immediately take them out of their comfort zone, sometimes they even make poor weakening moves to try avoid the gambit.

I think black is justified in playing a gambit against the third tbh since bright on live 1 white weakens their kingside and doesn't develop. The from gambit looks to take advantage of this before white can consolidate.

Naka also plays the Dutch quite often, mainly the Warsaw Leningrad (i.e. 7... c6 in the main line). I guess there are few people who play the Leningrad Bird but don't play the Leningrad Dutch, so Birders should be sought among Dutchers first.

I think it's a suboptimal move order - White can reply by sensible offbeat stuff like 1. b3 or 1. Nc3. The precise move order for this idea imo is 1... g6 2. e4 c5, disallowing an early b3 and enabling the c6 option instead of c5 in case White does play 2. Nc3.

But there are other interesting second moves for Black, most notably 2... d5 ('Scandinavian Bird'): after 3. exd5?! Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qa5, Black delays Nf6 and puts pressure on c3 by his Sniper bishop on g7

A better try by White, though, is 3. Nc3, then the game typically continues with 3... c6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. d4 Bg4 6. e5, transposing to the Gurgenidze Defense (a variation of the Modern / C-K and in fact the reason why White likes to play 3. Nd2 in the C-K nowadays instead of the classical 3. Nc3). 6... Qb6 looks good here, though 6... h5 is most popular.

1. f4 is only good if you follow it up with 2. resigns so that your opponent doesn't have to waste his time and can go drinking.

1.e4 is also bad: