Dealing With Sidelines - Bird's Opening⁣

Do you get flustered, wondering 'why didn't I look at this recently?'
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Do you get overconfident, believing 'I'm gonna crush this guy in 20 moves?'⁣
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Or, do you stay objective, appreciate that your opponent is basically playing a 'normal' opening a tempo up (if they're White) or a worse version of a 'normal' opening (if they're Black)? ⁣
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In this post, I'll share with you a simple counter to the Bird's Opening (1.f4), which will allow us to see how we can adapt our ideas, based on the opponent being a tempo up on the Dutch Defence, after Black's best reply, 1...d5. ⁣

(see Lichess Study at the end to follow along with a board)
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The first point to note is that the 'Classical' setups with 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 do not allow White to equalize. For instance, 3...Bg7 4.Be2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 c5 7.Qe1 (the most common move; 7.Ne5 Nfd7 and 7.Nc3 d4 also fail to impress) 7...Nc6 8.Nc3 d4 9.Nd1 dxe3 10.Nxe3 is the most common line for White...⁣
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...But after 10...e6 followed by ...Nd5, Black is significantly better, effectively having an English Opening where White spent 3 tempi with his knight to reach the ineffective e3-square, while weakening himself with f4. ⁣
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On the other hand, Stonewalling with 4.d4 is not a significant improvement, as after 4...c5 5.c3 Qc7 (a waiting move that also covers c5) 6.Bd3 Nh6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Nbd2 Bf5, Black is ready to exchange White's good light-squared bishop without damaging his structure, and White is slightly worse. ⁣
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This is why most strong Bird players go for the 'Polar Bear' approach with 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3, with the point that White can use his extra tempo dynamically to either push in the centre with 6...c5 7.Qe1 Nc6 8.e4 (although the the thematic counter-strike 8...dxe4 9.dxe4 e5! is still marginally better for Black)...⁣
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...Or open up the bishop with 7.Ne5!? - a specialty of IM Rudik Makarian, which is basically the 'Iranian Variation' (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.c4 Ne4) with an extra tempo. ⁣
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In online blitz/rapid, many of the trickiest GMs in the world have been essaying the double fianchetto 6...b6!?, which is the move I'll be investigating for the rest of this post. It reminds a lot of the recommended 6.b3 Double Fianchetto approach vs. the Leningrad Dutch in Avrukh's classic 'GM Repertoire' work. ⁣
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A possible disadvantage of 6...b6 is that, with the long diagonal opened, suddenly 7.e4 becomes possible for White - and that is the reason I had dismissed 6...b6 in the past. ⁣
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However, it turns out that Black can actually 'call' White with 7...dxe4 8.dxe4 Nxe4 9.Ng5 Nxg5 10.Bxa8 Ne6, sacrificing the exchange for very interesting compensation - while setting a devilish trap that even caught out many of the older engines. What White should play is 11.Be4 Nd7, when Black's lead in development and White's open king gives at least full compensation for the exchange, but the game continues.⁣
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Instead, the 'human' approach of 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.Bf3 Nd4 13.Bd1 Bh3 14.Re1, seemingly holding everything together, runs into a beautiful tactical blow: 14...Nb3!! 15.axb3 Bd4 16.Kh1 Bf2, and Black wins back the exchange. After 17.Be2 Bxe1 18.Rxa7, most of the previous games saw Black defend the pawn with 18...c5, but I found a nice improvement - 18...Bf2!!⁣
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The point of this beautiful move is that, if you give Black time to play ...Nc6-d4, his pieces will have immense energy, which White will have a hard time resisting. But if White does grab the material, with 19.Rxc7 Na6 20.Rxe7, Black plays 20...Bc5! 21.Re5 f6, and White must lose the exchange in some form with a winning position for Black, as 22.Re4 Bd7! and Bc6 still wins the exchange.⁣
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Now that we understand this critical point behind 6...b6, we should of course round up our coverage with a few 'quieter' setups that White can play. Unfortunately for White, most of these approaches allow Black to harmonize his position and count on some sort of advantage.⁣
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7.Nc3 Bb7 8.Ne5 (the order can be interchanged) 8...Nbd7 is one example, where I would find it easier to play Black, but objectively White is not worse off. ⁣
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A quieter approach like 7.c3 Bb7 8.a4 is not really the way to make full use of White's extra tempo, in my view, and after 8...c5 9.a5 Qc7, Black is slightly better.⁣
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Finally, 7.Qe1 strikes me as tautologous when White can play e4 directly, but White has had some wins at a high level with the plan of 7...Bb7 8.h3 c5 9.g4, going for some 'Grand Prix' style attack with f5/Qh4/Bh6/Ng5. However, one can't really expect such an attack to objectively work without the required central control, and after 9...Nc6 10.c3 d4! 11.Na3 Nd5 12.Bd2 e6, White has a gaping hole on e3, and Black is clearly for choice.⁣

Lichess Study Link: https://lichess.org/study/ofry69fv/KlketUBu
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This post demonstrates the way in which I demonstrate the key ideas of openings - clearly and succinctly, so that you can quickly start playing a given system in your own games, with the confidence that you understand what you are doing. This makes it much easier to adapt your ideas for when the opponent does something a bit different. ⁣
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If you would like to experience such an approach to all the key skills for chess mastery, send me a message!