AFebruary 08, 1975
Times Colonist, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Saturday, February 08, 1975
FOR THE STUDENT HENRY EDWARD BIRD
AND HIS DEFENCE TO THE RUY LOPEZ
(1. P-K4, P-K4; 2. N-KB3, N-QB3; 3. B-N5, N-Q5.)
In an era of swashbuckling attack and free-for-all gambits, British Chess Master Henry Bird (1830-1908) stood out as a chivalrous ultra-romantic who enjoyed nothing more than to play an adventurous game. Better known as the originator of Bird's Opening (l. P-KB4), Bird also discovered 3. …N-Q5 in defence of the much-disliked Ruy Lopez.
During a playing career spanning 50 years, Bird was famous for his willingness to play anyone, any time, preferably for small stakes but if his opponent so wanted it, for no stakes at all. Whether in offhand games at Simpson's Divan in London or in matches with the likes of Anderssen, Lowe, Morphy, Steinitz, Blackburne or Lasker, Bird played original chess, always striving to avoid variations which were “book.”
It was this desire to improvise and discover on the chessboard that led to the creation of both Bird's Opening and Bird's Defence.
Even in its own era, Bird's Defence had only a lukewarm acceptance and, sad to say, experts have not warmed to it in the intervening years. Modern Chess Openings, in its sixth edition, termed it “theoretically unsound” and noted that “it has been abandoned in serious chess.” Five editions later, MCO was even harsher, dismissing Henry Bird's creation as “an oddity.”
Here's how Bird moved into a game after the initial stage:
4. NxN PxN 5. P-Q3 P-KR4 6. P-QB3 B-B4 7. O-O P-QB3 8. B-R4 P-Q3 9. Q-K1 Q-B3 10. K-R1 N-R3 11. P-B3 P-R5 12. B-B2 B-Q2 13. PxP BxP
