Bird's Opening begins 1.f4 (ECO A02). It is a flank opening - a kind of Dutch Defence in reverse: White fights for the e5 square at once and plans play on the kingside.
White usually builds a set-up with Nf3, e3 and Be2 (or a fianchetto), and sometimes switches to the aggressive Stonewall structure. The price of the activity is a slight weakening of White's own king with f4.
The opening is named after Henry Bird. An unconventional but perfectly playable weapon for anyone who wants to take the game off the beaten track from move one.
Set it up on the board, move the pieces around and copy the FEN - or open the full walkthrough of the opening in a separate article.
Drag a piece onto the board, or click a piece and then click the squares. The cross beside the pieces sweeps every piece of that colour off the board, and a single piece can be dragged off the edge.
The pieces will be arranged into the chosen pattern.
It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
Build your own position in the board editor, read up on the rules of chess or run a tournament on your own positions in the free app.
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