The Bird’s Opening is the 6th most popular opening and is a very aggressive opening. White starts out weakening his king side and starts a flank attack on the center with his f pawn. This opening is not used in lots of top level play but some of the most beautiful games in chess history have been played using the Bird’s Opening.
The Bird’s Opening is the 6th most popular opening and is a very aggressive opening. White starts out weakening his king side and starts a flank attack on the center with his f pawn. This opening is not used in lots of top level play but some of the most beautiful games in chess history have been played using the Bird’s. I love game pigeon and all, but are a few flaws. Idk if it’s my phone (I don’t think it is it’s new) but whenever I try to just tap on GP to open it it doesn’t work so I have to open App Store, search up the app and tap open.
1. f4
After black defends with d5 the game will transpose into a reverse of the Dutch defense, where white opens with d4 and black responds with f5. White’s main focus is on the dark squares in the game which is a big difference than the usual light squares that white usually focuses on.
The statement was, “Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon. The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, shits on the board and then struts around like it won the game.” The first item in my newsfeed this morning was an article explaining why Angela Merkel would like to see trade sanctions on Russia lifted. “Never play chess with a pigeon. The pigeon just knocks all the pieces over. Then shits all over the board. Then struts around like it won.” You could say that’s what Hillary Clinton tried to do. She tried to play chess with a pigeon. Probably, never before has a candidate for President of the USA been so qualified as Hillary Clinton.
While the light square bishop is usually the key minor piece for white, in this opening the dark square bishop actually gets the nod. White will usually fianchetto his bishop on the queen side to b2 and add more pressure on the dark squares.
Watch the video below to watch more detailed explanations of the opening, multiple variations, and extended lines.
Chess is a complex board game that only takes a few minutes to learn but one that many say could take a lifetime to master. The goal is to place your opponent's king in a situation known as checkmate.
Henry Edward Bird Number of games in database: 504 Years covered: 1849 to 1903
Overall record: +184 -233 =76 (45.0%)* * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database.11 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.
NOTABLE GAMES:[what is this?] Bird vs Lasker, 1892 1-0 NN vs Bird, 1850 0-1 Bird vs NN, 1869 1-0 G MacDonnell vs Bird, 1874 0-1 Bird vs Englisch, 1883 1/2-1/2 Bird vs J Mason, 1876 1-0 Bird vs Pinkerley, 1850 1-0 Bird vs Steinitz, 1867 1-0 Bird vs O Gelbfuhs, 1873 1-0 Bird vs K Pitschel, 1878 1-0 NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS:[what is this?] Bird - Mason Match 1875/76 (1875) Lasker - Bird (1890) 4th American Chess Congress (1876) Paris (1878) Vienna (1873) Nuremberg (1883) London (1883) Hamburg (1885) Manchester (1890) Vienna (1882) London (1899) 6th American Chess Congress (1889) Hastings (1895)
GAME COLLECTIONS:[what is this?] Challenger Birdby Gottschalk Alapin - Bird - Colle // The Playersby fredthebear BIRD On The Bird's Opening-n-The Bird-Defenceby saveyougod Vienna 1873by JoseTigranTalFischer Vienna 1873by suenteus po 147 Paris 1878by suenteus po 147
Search Sacrifice Explorer for Henry Edward Bird Search Google for Henry Edward Bird
HENRY EDWARD BIRD (born Jul-14-1829, died Apr-11-1908, 78 years old) United Kingdom
[what is this?]
Henry Edward Bird was born in 1829 in Portsea, Hampshire, in England. He learned chess at age 15 by watching players at 'Raymond's Coffee House.'1 By 1848 he was noticed as a promising newcomer in what would later become known as 'Simpson's Divan' in London.2 He was admitted to the strong London (1851) international tournament, where Bernhard Horwitz eliminated him in the first mini-match. Bird became fond of unusual experiments over the board. In several games against Ernst Falkbeer in 1853 he tried <1.f4>, with dismal results. Nonetheless, this particular experiment would eventually become famous as 'Bird's Opening.'
Before 1878, Bird's career as an accountant prevented him from devoting much time to chess,3 but in the fall of 1866 he distinguished himself in an informal match against Wilhelm Steinitz at the Westminister Club.4 The first to 11 wins would triumph, and despite playing the games in the evening after a full day's work, Bird proved a tough opponent. After 17 games he was called away to America by his employers, and the contest remained unfinished with Steinitz leading only by +7 -5 =5. After this match Bird was recognized as an amateur of master strength,4 and he garnered invitations to very strong international tournaments such as Vienna (1873), Paris (1878), Vienna (1882), Nuremberg (1883), London (1883), Hamburg (1885), Hastings (1895), and London (1899). Though he generally gave a decent account of himself, his results were inconsistent and he rarely found himself near the top of the table. Despite his inability to win such strong events, in any given game Bird could prove dangerous even to the world's strongest masters. At Nottingham (1886), he used his own 'Bird's opening' to defeat Johannes Zukertort in a wild tactical scramble that was typical of his romantic style: Bird vs Zukertort, 1886.
He boasted wins over virtually all the best players of his era, including Steinitz, Zukertort, Horwitz, Falkbeer, Adolf Anderssen, James Mason, George Henry Mackenzie, Cecil Valentine De Vere, George Alcock MacDonnell, Joseph Henry Blackburne, Simon Winawer, Amos Burn, Isidor Gunsberg, David Janowski, and Emanuel Lasker. Bird added to his legacy with several notable publications, including 'The Chess Openings, Considered Critically and Practically' (London 1877), 'Chess Practice' (London 1882), 'Modern Chess and Chess Masterpieces' (London 1887), and 'Chess History and Reminiscences' (London 1893).
< Earlier Kibitzing· PAGE 11 OF 11 ·Later Kibitzing>
Apr-29-15
Chessical: 'Mr H. E. Bird. the chess-player, has had narrow escape. He is an invalid confined his bed, and the upsetting of a light, which set fire to the bad, placed him in serious danger. He was saved by the promptitude of Mrs Hart land; his landlady, who was severely burnt in putting out the flames'.
<Source:> 'Aberdeen Journal' - Thursday 13th June 1901, p.4.
May-19-15
TheFocus: <… it is Bird we love. His victories glitter, his errors are magnificent> - H.G. Wells.
Jun-01-15
thomastonk: Bird arrived on 1880-Jul-18 in Braunschweig or Brunswick (Germany), but is was too late to participate at the master tournament. He then played a short match with Gäbler from Braunschweig, one of the prize winners in the main tournament. Bird won the first game of the match, and Gäbler the second. Then Gäbler declined to continue.
Maybe not a very serious matter. A few days later Bird went to Hamburg and played 12 days from 10 am until 12 pm and longer (consultation games, simultaneous exhibition, series of games etc.).
Sep-07-15
dark.horse: riddle me this:
Q: What's another name for Mark Texiera's injury?
A: Bird's Opening.
Jan-12-16
zanzibar: I suppose Bird does bear a resemblance to this player:
Henry Thomas Buckle
Beware not to confuse the two, from Harding's site about his new Blackburne book:
<Page 111: The photograph said to be of Henry Bird turns out actually to be of Buckle. It was mis-captioned in P. W. Sergeant's book where we found the picture, and apparently several other authors have been deceived by this. We hope to have the picture replaced in any future reprint..>
Jan-26-16
quillan: I noticed a biography on Bird is announced: http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-....
Feb-04-16
zanzibar: In regards to his performance in <2nd BCA Congress - London (1886)>:
<'Mr. Bird was also in bad health during the whole of the Tournament, for his old enemy the gout had got fairly hold of him and hence his play is much below his usual standard. Seldom or never did he display his wonderful resources in difficulties and once a game went against him he seemed to collapse right off ; indeed no one seeing the games would trace any signs of Bird's play in his ordinary form. Gout, however, is a heavy handicapper, and it says no little for Bird's pluck that he continued to play on under these adverse circumstances, and not only to play but to beat Pollock and Mortimer and to draw with Mason.'
- BCM v7 p355>
Jun-05-16
RookFile: A man who played Morphy, Steinitz and Lasker.
Jul-14-16
TheFocus: Happy birthday, Henry Bird.
Jul-14-16
AlicesKnight: Thanks to all posters, new and old, who have found such interesting nooks and crannies of information about Bird (and indeed others). A pleasure to browse and fill out the character behind the board.
Sep-12-16
Marcelo Bruno: For me one the most remarkable chess masters of all times. I enjoy very much his playing style: he's one of my favorites.
Oct-23-16
offramp: I would estimate his playing strength as about 1198.
However, because he is from years ago I'd also say that IF HE HAD TWO WEEKS TO CATCH UP ON THEORY he would be World Champion within a week.
Oct-24-16
thegoodanarchist: <AlicesKnight: Thanks to all posters, new and old, who have found such interesting nooks and crannies of information about Bird (and indeed others). >
It's well known that he ate like a Bird.
Oct-25-16
offramp: I found out a lot about him on the internet.
I've been surfing Bird.
Oct-26-16
offramp: I am amazed that some dweeb has written a 680p book on this 1198 Bri Schmo.
It is only 75 buckaroonies if you want a punt.
Colossal misdirected energy and effort.
Oct-26-16
posoo: UVRUMP give da book a chance u mite like it. DO NOT judge a book by its covur Ms. Dolmater taught me dat in da GARDUN OF CHILDRAN.
Oct-26-16
MissScarlett: 1198 - 476 = 722. That should keep <offramp> busy for the next 6 months.
Oct-26-16
posoo: WAT is a BRISCHMO?
Oct-26-16
offramp: <posoo: WAT is a BRISCHMO?>
A BRItish Schmo, a British idiot.
Oct-30-16
offramp: http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-...
'H.E. Bird, A Chess Biography with 1,198 Games. By Hans Renette.'
Hans Renette would be a good name for the wife/partner of Hans Ree.
The book has 680pp. $75. It is a bad time for us in Britain to but anything in dollars or euros, as the £ has collapsed a bit. If you are in the euro-zone it might well be worth buying. 1,198 games is a lot of games.
Oct-30-16
TheFocus: <off ramp><1,198 games is a lot of games.>
But how many are quality?
Oct-30-16
quillan: You can see a sample of the book at Amazon and Google books. Many games are thoroughly analysed.
Feb-21-17
zanzibar: Here's an interesting footnote written by Bird in his book on the <Steinitz & Lasker Match (1894)>, where he discusses what to do while waiting for the opponent to move:
<
Note.—The etiquette of chess requires the player to remain in the room, and in fact sitting at the play table, whilst his opponent is considering his moves. As a game at present time-limit lasts six or eight hours, patience becomes a very valuable quality if not a virtue. The long waiting is naturally more onerous to one of 60 years of age than to one of 30. We may not work, read, take a walk, or study, and looking out of a window is not good form; we find these long waits very irksome. It is absurd to say that better chess is produced by it: take the games in the Steinitz and Zukertort match, the Tarrasch and Tchigorin, and the present one or most recent between Steinitz and Lasker, test them, and we find more than an average of faults. Given a good fat blunder at chess we should at first look for it in a long time move. <Besides, if eight hours—a fair intellectual working day—is necessary for a game at chess, why not at once play these matches by correspondence, for no one cares to look long on them at present pace.><<>>
>
It's actually a 'top'-note on p12. (em added)
The last part is rather amusing, why not play them by correspondence?!
Jul-06-17
zanzibar: Albert Roberts (kibitz #4)
Mar-12-18
zanzibar: The end is so often sad....
<
Mr. Van Vliet writes:—'The aged Chess master, Mr. H. E. Bird, has been ill for some time at 16, Chetwode Road. Upper Tooting, S.W. Mr. H. A. Richardson, of the St. George's Chess Club, suggests that it would be a real kindness if some of Mr. Bird's old friends occasionally paid him a visit, just to show that he is not entirely forgotten.'
>
Chess Amateur v2 (1908) p196
< Earlier Kibitzing· PAGE 11 OF 11 ·Later Kibitzing>
NOTE:Create an account todayto post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users.Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username,then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.
Please observe our posting guidelines:
No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
Nothing in violation of United States law.
No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
No trolling.
The use of 'sock puppet' accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.
See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.
NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic.This forum is for this specific player only. To discuss chess or this site in general,visit the Kibitzer's Café.
Messages posted by Chessgames membersdo not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.
Spot an error? Pleasesuggest your correctionand help us eliminate database mistakes!
Home |About |Login |Logout |F.A.Q. |Profile |Preferences |Premium Membership |Kibitzer's Café |Biographer's Bistro |New Kibitzing |Chessforums |Tournament Index |Player Directory |Notable Games |World Chess Championships |Opening Explorer |Guess the Move |Game Collections |ChessBookie Game |Chessgames Challenge |Store |Privacy Notice |Contact Us
