Bird Opening
Chess opening · ECO A02 · 1 half-move
1. f4
The Bird Opening is reached after 1. f4. It is Black's move in the position shown.
How often it is played
The Bird Opening and its variations appeared in 1.1% of games — 33,476 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 46 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 49%, 3.7% were drawn and Black won 47%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.
What the engine thinks
Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at -0.33 — a small edge for Black. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.
Similar openings
The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| King's Pawn Game | 1. e4 | 59% |
| Queen's Pawn Game | 1. d4 | 26% |
| English Opening | 1. c4 | 3.0% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Bird Opening: Dutch Variation | 1. f4 d5 | 0.41% |
| Bird Opening: From's Gambit | 1. f4 e5 | 0.11% |
| Bird Opening: Hobbs Gambit | 1. f4 g5 | 0.00% |
| Bird Opening: Double Duck Formation | 1. f4 f5 2. d4 d5 | 0.00% |
| Bird Opening: Wagner-Zwitersch Gambit | 1. f4 f5 2. e4 | 0.00% |
| Bird Opening: Horsefly Defense | 1. f4 Nh6 | 0.00% |
| Bird Opening: Mujannah | 1. f4 Nf6 2. c4 | 0.00% |
| Bird Opening: Myers Defense | 1. f4 b5 | 0.00% |
Check your own games
Paste a game, or share one straight from lichess or chess.com, and Chess Analyzer names the opening, marks where the game left known theory and grades every move after it.
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