alumbrado wrote on 08/31/07 at 18:30:32:


That's the most accurate analysis of the Bird I've every seen 


"Damn, I keep dropping the spliff"

Black_Widow wrote on 08/30/07 at 19:53:00:

1. f4-e5
2. fe5-Bg4 !? (or maybe ?! )

HgMan wrote on 02/06/06 at 22:13:18:

What should white play in case black plays Bg4 on the second move? I had such a game yesterday on the internet and I continue with g3, Bg2, d4 and Qd3 hoping for a Lasker like position. I eventually won in a difficult situation (my opponent went out of time - I presume he did not feel comfortable) but I am not qure my plan was the correct one.

From what I have gathered by reading this thread, Taylor 's book is meant to be an exhaustive overview of 1.f4. But apparently several important lines are not covered at all. If a second edition is published, it will have to include 1. ...d6 ; 2. Ktf3 e5 and 1. ...d6 ; 2. Ktf3 Bg4 or an other second-move recommendation for White, as well as the From line 1. ...e5 ; 2. fe d6 ; 3. Ktf3 Bg4 (as discussed above) and perhaps also 1. ...Kth6.
TalJechin mentions that he also forgot 1. ...d5 ; 2. Ktf3 Ktc6 and 1. ...d5 ; 2. Ktf3 Ktf6 followed by the "London" ...Bf5 or "Colle"...e6, although the "Torre" 3. e3 Bg4 is apparently included. Has he also not covered 1. ...d5 2. Ktf3 Bg4 ? Any other lines that were ommitted?

It seems like a good introduction to the Bird, even if there are some things missing like black 1...d5 set-ups not going into a reversed main line set-up, e.g 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 or a black London set-up.

And he seems to have forgotten or missed Tartakower, who was a brilliant Dutch and Bird player! E.g:

Maroczy,G - Tartakower,S [A85]
Teplitz-Schoenau Teplitz-Schoenau (4), 1922

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.a3 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Bd3 d5 7.Nf3 c6 8.0-0 Ne4 9.Qc2 Bd6 10.b3 Nd7 11.Bb2 Rf6 12.Rfe1 Rh6 13.g3 Qf6 14.Bf1 g5 15.Rad1 g4 16.Nxe4 fxe4 17.Nd2 Rxh2 18.Kxh2 Qxf2+ 19.Kh1 Nf6 20.Re2 Qxg3 21.Nb1 Nh5 22.Qd2 Bd7 23.Rf2 Qh4+ 24.Kg1 Bg3 25.Bc3 Bxf2+ 26.Qxf2 g3 27.Qg2 Rf8 28.Be1 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1 e5 30.Kg1 Bg4 31.Bxg3 Nxg3 32.Re1 Nf5 33.Qf2 Qg5 34.dxe5 Bf3+ 35.Kf1 Ng3+ 0-1

and perhaps the game that inspired Larsen to play b2-b4 in the Bird, but here it's a Orangutang that tries to fly:

Tartakower,S - Maroczy,G [A00]
New York New York, 1924

1.b4 Nf6 2.Bb2 e6 3.b5 d5 4.e3 Be7 5.f4 0-0 6.Bd3 a6 7.a4 axb5 8.axb5 Rxa1 9.Bxa1 Nbd7 10.Nf3 Ne4 11.0-0 f5 12.Be2 Nd6 13.Qc1 Bf6 14.Na3 c6 15.bxc6 bxc6 16.Ne5 Bxe5 17.fxe5 Nf7 18.d4 Ng5 19.c4 Ba6 20.Re1 Qa8 21.Bc3 Rb8 22.Qc2 Ne4 23.Bd3 Rb7 24.Rc1 Nb6 25.Be1 h6 26.Bxe4 dxe4 27.Qc3 Nd7 28.Rb1 Rxb1 29.Nxb1 Qb7 30.Na3 Qb6 31.Bd2 Kf7 32.g3 Nf8 33.Qb4 Qxb4 34.Bxb4 Nd7 35.Ba5 g5 36.Kf2 Ke8 37.Ke2 c5 38.Nb5 Kf7 39.Kd2 cxd4 40.exd4 f4 41.Nd6+ Kg6 42.Kc3 e3 43.Kd3 Nb8 44.Ke4 Nc6 45.Bc3 e2 46.gxf4 gxf4 47.Bd2 f3 48.Kxf3 Nxd4+ 49.Ke3 Nf5+ 50.Kxe2 Nxd6 51.exd6 Bxc4+ 52.Ke3 Bb5 53.Kd4 h5 54.Kc5 Ba4 ½-½


Tartakower,S - Asztalos,L [A03]
Budapest Budapest (13), 1913

1.f4 d5 2.e3 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.b3 Nc6 5.Bb5 Nf6 6.Bb2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Ne5 Qc7 10.d3 a5 11.Qe2 a4 12.Nd2 axb3 13.axb3 Rxa1 14.Rxa1 Bb7 15.g4 Ra8 16.Rxa8+ Bxa8 17.g5 Nd7 18.Ndf3 Nxe5 19.Bxe5 Qa5 20.c4 Bb7 21.Kf2 Kf8 22.h4 Ba6 23.h5 Bb7 24.h6 g6 25.Kf1 Qa3 26.Qb2 Qxb2 27.Bxb2 Bd6 28.Nh2 Ke8 29.Ng4 Be7 30.Be5 Kd7 31.Ke2 Ke8 32.Kd2 Kd7 33.Kc2 Ke8 34.Kb2 Kd7 35.Ka3 Ke8 36.Ka4 Kd7 37.Bb8 Kc8 38.Ba7 Kd7 39.Bb6 d4 40.e4 Ke8 41.e5 Kd7 42.Nf2 1-0


Tartakower,S - Barasz,Z [A03]
Budapest Budapest (2), 1913

1.f4 d5 2.e3 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.b3 Nc6 5.Bb2 Nf6 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.0-0 Bd6 8.Qe2 0-0 9.d3 a6 10.Bxc6 Bxc6 11.Nbd2 Ne8 12.g3 b5 13.e4 d4 14.c3 dxc3 15.Bxc3 Be7 16.Rac1 Rc8 17.Rfd1 Bb7 18.a4 Bf6 19.axb5 axb5 20.Rc2 Bxc3 21.Rxc3 Ba6 22.Rc2 Nd6 23.Rdc1 Qb6 24.Qf2 Nb7 25.b4 Qd6 26.bxc5 Qxd3 27.Rc3 Qd8 28.Ra3 Rc6 29.Ne5 Qc7 30.Nxc6 Qxc6 31.Nb3 Ra8 32.Rca1 Nd8 33.Qd4 Nb7 34.Qe3 Nd8 35.Qd2 Nb7 36.Nd4 Qxe4 37.Rxa6 1-0


Tartakower,S - Spielmann,R [A02]
Vienna m Vienna, 1913

1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 g5 5.d4 g4 6.Ne5 Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.g3 h5 9.Bg2 h4 10.Qd3 Bd7 11.Nc3 Rb8 12.0-0 hxg3 13.hxg3 c5 14.Bf4 Bxf4 15.Rxf4 Qg5 16.Ne4 Qh6 17.Nxc5 Nf6 18.Nxd7 Nxd7 19.Qe4+ Kd8 20.Rxf7 Re8 21.Qxg4 Qe3+ 22.Kf1 1-0


But the game that made me write this was the following:


Tartakower,S - Winter,W [A02]
Nottingham Nottingham, 1936

1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 g5 5.d4 g4 6.Ng5 Qe7 7.Qd3 f5 8.h3 Nc6 9.hxg4 Nb4 10.Qb3 f4 11.Bd2 Nxc2+ 12.Qxc2 Qxg5 13.Nc3 Nf6 14.Ne4 Nxe4 15.Qxe4+ Qe7 16.Qf3 Be6 17.Qxb7 0-0 18.Qf3 Qg7 19.Bc3 Bxg4 20.Qd5+ Kh8 21.0-0-0 Rae8 22.Rd3 Bf5 23.Rf3 Be4 24.Qh5 Bxf3 25.exf3 Re3 26.Bc4 Rfe8 27.Bb3 R8e7 28.Qf5 c5 29.Rxh7+ Qxh7 30.Qf8+ 1-0

When reading Tartakower's My Best Games of Chess, he mentions that Winter proposed they should play a From's Gambit on the night before the game since he 'was in possession of an infallible means of beating me in this variation'.

Considering any agreement beforehand being illegal, Tartakower refused the proposition, but the next day he decided to give Winter the opportunity of 'realising his intentions'...

Anyway, it seems that Tartakower (probably wisely) dodged the bullet with 6.Ng5 - but it could be fun to see if anyone here, who might have access to British chess magazines from 1936 and forward, would know if Winter published his idea as an article or comment? (In my database it seems that he only played the From's gambit in the game above.)

a very interesting book
I'll certainly have to try the Antoshin Variation some time

one mistake I found...

in Bücker's Concealed From (1 f4 e5 2 fxe5 Nc6!?) TT (p181) gives 3 Nf3"?!" g5 4 d4 g4 5 Ng5 d5 6 exd6 Bxd6 and now 7 Ne4 as leading to equality.

but he also gives this position via 1 f4 e5 2 fxe5 d6 3 exd6 Bxd6 4 Nf3 g5 5 d4 g4 6 Ng5 Nc6 (p153) and now 7 Ne4 as good for White.

the latter assessment is correct, and Bücker's idea with the 2...Nc6 move was to play 6...Qxd6!? instead (though I think this has now been shown to be good for White as well).

I thought the fun line against 1...f5 looked like 2. e4, ending up with a reversed From's where White's extra tempo is his pawn on f4.  You might say some nice things about Black's position in that case, but "solid" is not one of them.

JN wrote on 02/08/06 at 09:46:03:


Yes, but instead of 7...0-0-0, Black can certainly improve with 7...Nf6 and Black really has counterplay.