Bird's Opening

[Nick Burrows]

Lasker Vs Bauer 1889

1. f4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. b3 e6 4. Bb2 Be7 5. Bd3 b6 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. O-O O-O 9. Ne2 c5 10. Ng3 Qc7 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Qc6 13. Qe2 a6 14. Nh5 Nxh5 15. Bxh7 Kxh7 16. Qxh5 Kg8 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Qg4 Kh7 19. Rf3 e5 20. Rh3 Qh6 21. Rxh6 Kxh6 22. Qd7 Bf6 23. Qxb7 Kg7 24. Rf1 Rab8 25. Qd7 Rfd8 26. Qg4 Kf8 27. fxe5 Bg7 28. e6 Rb7 29. Qg6 f6 30. Rxf6 Bxf6 31. Qxf6 Ke8 32. Qh8 Ke7 33. Qg7 Kxe6 34. Qxb7 Rd6 35. Qxa6 d4 36. exd4 cxd4 37. h4 d3 38. Qxd3

[Barry Sandercock]

Bauer should have resigned sooner !

[Roger de Coverly]

It's not often you see someone of Petrosian's calibre being so outplayed, and that came from Larsen duping him into the wrong set-up at the end of the opening.

Didn't Fischer usually only play the Birds by transposition from 1 b3? The only game I find with 1.f4 is his Blitz game against Smyslov from 1970 in Yugoslavia.

In the Petrosian game, Black's setup looks Ok as the sort of thing stuff played as an anti-Dutch. A "where did it go wrong" review using an engine suggests it was in the middle game where lashing out with 22. .. b5 was a bit dubious and 22. .. e5 the preferred choice.

[MJMcCready]

It's not often you see someone of Petrosian's calibre being so outplayed, and that came from Larsen duping him into the wrong set-up at the end of the opening.

Didn't Fischer usually only play the Birds by transposition from 1 b3? The only game I find with 1.f4 is his Blitz game against Smyslov from 1970 in Yugoslavia.

In the Petrosian game, Black's setup looks Ok as the sort of thing stuff played as an anti-Dutch. A "where did it go wrong" review using an engine suggests it was in the middle game where lashing out with 22. .. b5 was a bit dubious and 22. .. e5 the preferred choice.

I don't have the literature with me, but from what I recall the main criticism was that Petrosian didn't know where to put his minor peices. Certainly b5 was dubious, giving white Ra6 of course.

I think you're right about Fischer, I did see one or two games with a Bird's set up but now that I think about it, one of them was via b3.