Flank · a plan for White
Bird Opening: Dutch Variation
2/2
1.f4d5
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Bird Opening: Dutch Variation10.1M games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
70%7.1M53%
9.6%966k52%
2.3%228k49%
1.4%143k50%
1.4%141k54%
0.5%50k48%
0.2%19k45%
Famous games in this line3.6k master games
Carlsen, M. (2832) – Kramnik, V. (2808)Mamedyarov, S. (2817) – So, W. (2765)Nakamura, Hi (2807) – Gukesh, D. (2767)Abdusattorov, Nodirbek (2762) – Caruana, F. (2793)Aronian, Levon (2752) – Topalov, Veselin (2801)Carlsen, M. (2837) – Adams, Mi (2715)Vachier Lagrave, Maxime (2778) – Giri, Anish (2764)Nakamura, Hikaru (2741) – Karjakin, Sergey (2760)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, M. · So, W. · Aronian, Levon
- Family
- Bird Opening
- Category
- Flank
- First move
- Other
- ECO
- A03
- Line
- 1. f4 d5
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Bird Opening: Sturm Gambit2.c4Bird Opening: Williams Gambit2.e4 · 1 deeper lineBird Opening: Dutch Variation, Dudweiler Gambit2.g4Bird Opening: Lasker Variation2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5
Nearby lines in the family
From the archives
Henry Edward Bird, a London accountant, returned to chess in the 1870s after six years away: 'Having forgotten familiar openings, I commenced adopting KBP for first move.' He never stopped, and in 1895 wrote that no opening had given him more enjoyable games. It's the Dutch Defense with an extra tempo — kingside ambition from move one, named for the one player stubborn enough to make it a lifestyle.
Study this opening