Anyone Interested in a Comprehensive 1. f4 Study?

I play a lot of unorthodox openings and a handful of friends wanted me to help them learn how to play Bird's Opening. Over time, this evolved into a massive study with some 50-odd chapters, hundreds of variations, and a great deal of annotation and writing. If you want to play like an animal, you might enjoy checking it out

You sound so familiar, do I know you?

I would play that opening except I hate it when Black gets an early d4 in.

Isn't there an Iceland GM who is the world's expert on The Birds? He invented variations like The Polar Bear.

Since I've played this during my teenage years, I'm interested what you could know that I don't.

@Vegemite_Fighter
Henrik Danielsen. Although, he didn't invent the Polar Bear - the setup with c3 and Na3 as opposed to Qe1 had already been played, particularly by Bent Larsen. In that regard, he mainly invented the branding!

Danielsen has made huge contributions to theory though, and the opening would hardly be playable without him. Larsen largely gave up 1. f4 in the 60's because the Russians kept on playing sequences like f4 d5 Nf3 Bg4 e3 Nd7, and White's best response to that was entering a weird French Defense structure. Danielsen realized that the somewhat insane continuation of h3! Bxf3 Qxf3 Nf6 g4! was not only playable but gave White a considerable advantage, which basically neutralized Black's most unpleasant resource against 1. f4. Apparently, Bent Larsen himself met Danielsen and told him that he had "breathed new life" into Bird's Opening after seeing him crush GM Thomas Luther with it.

@MrPushwood I'm honored to see a Master taking interest in my study! Also, with regard to your question about 1... Nh6 - it's an interesting defense, and a good way to try and trick White into playing overambitiously with questionable moves like 2. e4. The lines that I recommended when I briefly looked at this line in the past were 2. Nf3 d5 3. b3 and 3. g3, the first aiming to punish Black for failing to play g6 and the second simply aiming to transpose to a normal position. I just gave it another look and think White could do well playing 3. Nc3, with the hilarious variation 3. Nc3 Bg4 4. e4 d4 5.Nb1!!!

Despite being quite ugly, the engine claims that 5. Ne2 Bxf3 gxf3 is also fine for White, but I don't see how White can ever do well here. I feel like the engine will discard it completely after plumbing the position more thoroughly.

@jonesmh I've more or less invented some new variations. I think there's no doubt that the old mainline (1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d3 Nf6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 0-0 6. 0-0 c5 leads to equal positions, but the only-played-twice 6... Re8 might actually offer Black a small advantage. The best reply is Nc3, and after d4 there are all sorts of interesting variations since almost every knight move works and results in sharp lines. Nb5 eventually allows Black to play a sound pawn sacrifice that makes White's position uncomfortable, and Na4 actually seems to be the best move and the key to maintaining an even game.

I also found a much earlier deviation for White with f4 d5 Nf3 g6 c4!?, where d4 is well-met by e4. You can reply to c5 with the immediate b4 and go for something that looks like a cross between a Benko Gambit and a much better version of the Czech Benoni. Other replies such as Nf6, c6, or e6 also result in an equal position or an advantage for White.

@LaithAl-Neemy You might have met my brother, Magiciang3 or Emperorf4.

@Hierophantc4 Your comment is no response to mine. I never played the old mainline and actually invented the William's Gambit, however, I can find no invented lines in your study.

@jonesmh I must say, I don't understand where your hostility is coming from. However, your commentary that you personally never played the mainline is irrelevant and your observation that there are no new lines in my study just seems false. The b4 pawn sacrifice in the closed position that occurs after f4 d5 Nf3 g6 c4 d4 e4 has never occurred in master practice in any line, but is sound and comes with full compensation in multiple lines. Not to mention, the 6... Re8 7. Nc3 idea I propose is a competitor for best play and has also never occurred in master practice as far as I can tell.

While I haven't come up with any second-move deviations from the mainline such as the Williams Gambit, it's hard to find such a thing that is actually sound.

Пацан Давай сразимся букало захватчика Товарищеская