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Bird’s Opening Reviewed by Michael Jeffreys
What do Rodney Dangerfield and Bird’s Opening have in common? Yep, they both get no respect. What’s more, while Rodney made jokes, more than a few chess players consider Bird’s opening to be somewhat of a joke. From the book’s Preface:
The not so funny part is that Taylor is completely serious. Many players, including a friend of mine who is almost 2500 Elo, considers Bird’s Opening unsound and wonders why anyone would play it. I asked him what he has against it, and he said, “It weakens White’s king needlessly.” When I followed up with, “Well, White play’s f4 in a lot of openings…” He replied curtly, “Yes, but at the right time… it’s too committal to play it on the first move!” So, who's right? Is 1. f4 a perfectly fine opening move that grabs space and fights for the center (e5 and g5), or is it an unsound lemon that is just asking to be pulverized?
My personal feeling is that regardless of the opening one chooses to begin a game with, if you have studied it and know its strategic and tactical ideas better than your opponent, odds are you are going to outplay him or her. By the way, one argument Taylor makes is that if the Dutch is playable for Black (and many top GM’s have played it at one time or another), then playing it with “a move in hand” as White, can only make it that much better. The overall look and feel of the book is quite nice. The front of the book, which is olive and lime green, features a white pawn boldly standing on the f4 square, while the shadows from the rest of the pieces reflect off the board. Inside the book you get a lot of material packed into 224 double-column pages, with multiple diagrams on every page (actually, there are two, three, and even sometimes four diagrams per page, which I really like as it breaks up the text and makes it easy to follow the games). In the back of the book is an index of all the complete games as well as an index of all main, as well as sub, variations. Two minor quibbles I do have with the book have to do with consistency. The first is with the inconsistent name of the opening throughout the book. In some cases Taylor calls it “the Bird’s,” in others simply “Bird’s,” and in still other places “the Bird.” To my ear, saying “the Bird’s” just doesn’t sound right, and thus I would have gone with either “Bird’s Opening” or “The Bird.” Either way, better would have been to pick one way and stick with it throughout for continuity. My second quibble has to do with the key diagrams at the beginning of each chapter. Some show moves made by both sides, while others show the position with just White having moved (i.e. Black’s pieces are still in the starting position). Again, for consistency sake, either all the diagrams should show White’s set-up without Black having moved, or (better) all should show BOTH sides having made their respective five or six opening moves. Also, I just noticed that the header on each page of chapter 11 is wrong; it says “Index of Complete Games,” but should read, “Unusual Defences,” since that is the name of the chapter. Let’s move on to the content. The book begins with an Introduction showing several games utilizing Bird’s opening. The first is by Greco which was played in 1620! This is followed by games featuring Henry Bird (the English player for whom the opening is named after), Emanuel Lasker, Bent Larsen, and even Vladimir Kramnik, which will come as a surprise to many (he beat Oratovsky with it in USSR in 1990). Next is the bulk of the book, which consists of eleven chapters, each one covering a different variation of the Bird: Chapter One: The Classical Bird
After 4.b4 in the above diagram, Taylor says in his colorful style: “A hairy ape is in the House! The Orang’s long, furry arms extend to b4 and f4, controlling key dark squares while preventing the standard counter …c7-c5 and …d5-d4, which was threatened in the previous game. White has quite good chances for an advantage, as we already saw in Game 5.”
Says Taylor: “I call this chapter The Recipe since I have many times seen, in general opening books, this line extolled as a simple way to meet the Bird. Authors of such general works, aimed at weaker players, always view the non-developing, king exposing Bird disparagingly. Given that prejudice, they seem to think that just a little manoeuvre can give Black the better game in the opening! Of course that kind of optimism is a bit misplaced, and what I find rather humorous is that, far from being simple, this variation contains some of the sharpest and most unclear of all Bird lines.”
The rest of the chapters in the book are: Chapter Four: The Leningrad Bird
The final three chapters, which I will not give a diagram for, are:
To my mind, there are three things about this book that make it a standout amongst opening books. First, Tim is a writer by profession. Thus, his writing style and “turn of a phrase” are a cut above the usual chess book fair. Check out these entertaining remarks:
Secondly, Taylor is a chess teacher. He knows what the improving student needs without overloading him or her with variations. There are plenty of explanations, so that for the most part you don’t have to wonder why a certain move was played (or not played). Thirdly, Taylor is a student of the game… this comes through as you read his comments. If he messes up a winning position (and he does give several painful losses), he is not afraid to admit it. Most importantly, it is obvious from Taylor’s writing that he still has a sense of enthusiasm for chess that is both refreshing as well as inspiring. The Bottom Line If you believe that only official “GM approved” openings are playable, or you care what other chess players may say about your choice of opening, than most likely Bird’s opening isn’t for you. However, if you are sick of playing main lines and enjoy being creative, or if you already happen to play the Bird, then you will definitely need to pick up Bird’s Opening by Timothy Taylor. While on the surface, Taylor appears to be championing the White side, this is actually not the case. He openly admits that there are lines where White doesn’t get much. Furthermore, he gives what he feels are Black’s best tries, and why White has to be careful to avoid these lines or he could actually stand worse. However, this is not the whole story. Taylor firmly believes in the Bird, and does show how White, by playing accurately, can develop an initiative that if Black isn’t careful, or fails to take seriously (which WILL happen!), can lead to a route. Lastly, I can say that even if you don’t play the Bird, but simply like going over entertaining games, delivered in an entertaining manner, you will enjoy this book. I will conclude by showing a nice win from the book (which Tim devotes six pages to), where Taylor brings home the full point against a strong IM:
IM Taylor,Tim -
IM Khachyan,Melik 1.f4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e3 g6 4.d4 d5 5.c3 Bg4 6.Be2 Bxf3 7.Bxf3 e6 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Nd2 cxd4 10.exd4 Bd6 11.Nb3 Qc7 12.Nc5 0-0 13.Qe1 Ne7 14.Nd3 h5 15.Ne5 Kg7 16.b3! Nf5 17.Bb2 b5 18.Rc1 Qa5 19.a3 Rac8 20.Qe2 Qb6 21.Kh1 a5 22.Rfd1 Nh4 23.c4! bxc4 24.bxc4 Be7 25.c5 Qc7 26.Bc3 Nxf3 27.gxf3!! Rb8 28.Rg1 Rg8 29.Rg2 Rb3 30.Qc2 a4 [Diagram]
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