Bird Opening: free opening course

Key ideas

• The f4 pawn controls e5. A knight on e5 is often White's best piece in the Bird.
• Put the queen's bishop on b2 or keep it at home. On b2 it shares the long diagonal with the e5 knight.
• Against a fianchetto on g7, the queen can go to e1 and then to h4. Then the f-pawn pushes and White attacks.
• Push the e-pawn to e4 when it is safe. Then White has pawns on e4 and f4 and a lot of space.
• The weak spot is the e1 to h4 diagonal. After 1...e5, never let a queen check on h4 when g3 and h2 are loose.

The 6 variations in the course

• 1...d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 g6: bishop on b2: 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 g6 4. b3 Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Be2 c5 … — Black puts the bishop on g7. White answers with a fianchetto on b2 and puts a knight on e5. After the bishops come off, White plans to push the e-pawn with a level, rich game.
• 1...d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5: Lasker Variation: 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. b3 Nc6 5. Bb2 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 … — Black takes queenside space with ...c5 and pins the f3 knight with ...Bg4. White breaks the pin, jumps to e5 and takes back on e5 with the f-pawn. White gets space and a half-open f-file.
• 1...d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4: 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 Bg4 4. Be2 e6 5. O-O Nbd7 6. h3 Bxf3 … — Black pins the f3 knight. White breaks the pin, asks the bishop a question with the h-pawn and gets the bishop pair. Then White pushes the e-pawn and opens the game for the two bishops.
• 1...Nf6 2.Nf3 g6: the queen goes to h4: 1. f4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Be2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. d3 c5 … — Black plays a King's Indian set-up. White builds the classic Bird plan: d3, the queen to e1, the e-pawn to e4 and the queen to h4. Then White plays for a kingside attack.
• 1...c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e3 g6: 1. f4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 g6 4. Bb5 Bg7 5. O-O Nf6 6. Bxc6 bxc6 … — Black answers with a Sicilian-style pawn. White pins the c6 knight with the bishop, gives it up to double Black's pawns and then pushes the e-pawn to gain space.
• From's Gambit 1...e5 2.fxe5 d6: 1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. d4 g4 6. Ne5 Bxe5 … — Black gives a pawn to open lines toward White's king. White takes twice, develops the knight to f3 and answers 4...g5 with 5.d4. After the queens come off, White stays a pawn up.

Traps you will learn (3)

• From's Gambit: 4.Nc3?? Qh4+ — A warning for White. After 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 the knight must go to f3. If it goes to c3, the black queen checks on h4 and Black mates in three moves.
• From's Gambit: 5.h3?? Bg3# — Another warning for White. After 4...g5 White wants to stop the pawn from moving to g4. But the h-pawn move opens the g3 square, and the bishop mates at once.
• From's Gambit: 6...f6? 7.Nc4 — In the 4...g5 line Black often kicks the e5 knight with 6...f6. The knight simply retreats to c4. White stays a pawn up, and Black's king is weak.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.