Caissa Codex
A02

Bird Opening: From's Gambit

From's Gambit is 1.f4 e5: Black answers Bird's Opening by offering the e-pawn at once. Read the guide

Chess diagram: Bird Opening: From's Gambit after 1…e5

Type a move and press Enter: e4, Nf3, O-O, or from and to squares like g1f3 (e7e8q to promote). The board is also played with the mouse.

Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.

Statistics from Lichess

2,943,163 games: White 47.5% / Draw 3.9% / Black 48.7%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
2,127,0812.1M
298,251298K
178,831179K
King's Gambit 153,312153K
96,13596K
34,05234K
27,80428K
6,9136,913

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 10, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.58 White is slightly better

Best play: 2. fxe5 d6 3. Nf3 dxe5 4. Nxe5 Bd6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d4 Nf6

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

The stronger the players, the worse this line does for Black: Black scores 52% under 1400, 48% at 2200 and up and 44% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

PlayersGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400 584K
1400–1799 1.2M
1800–2199 1.9M
2200 and up 247K
Masters, over the board 406

Master games

Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026

Description

From's Gambit is 1.f4 e5: Black answers Bird's Opening by offering the e-pawn at once. It is named after the Danish player Martin Severin From (1828–1895). White can avoid it easily by transposing to the King's Gambit with 2.e4, which is one of its possible drawbacks: a player who does not want to face the King's Gambit may prefer another reply to 1.f4.

Main lines

If White accepts with 2.fxe5, Black chooses between the main line 2...d6 and the rarer 2...Nc6.

  • 2...d6 3.exd6 Bxd6. White must now play 4.Nf3, because 4.Nc3 runs into 4...Qh4+ 5.g3 Qxg3+ 6.hxg3 Bxg3#. Black then has two options: 4...g5, driving the knight away, and 4...Nf6, threatening ...Ng4 and ...Nxh2.
  • 4...g5, the Lasker Variation, was introduced by the future World Champion Emanuel Lasker in Bird–Lasker, Newcastle upon Tyne 1892. IM Timothy Taylor, in his 2005 book on the Bird, considers it dubious and recommends 5.d4 g4 6.Ne5 for White, or the sharper 5.g3 g4 6.Nh4, in both cases with an advantage for White, although play stays extremely sharp.
  • 2...Nc6. Here Taylor recommends 3.Nc3 Nxe5 4.d4, planning e4, rather than 3.Nf3 g5, when Black stands well.

A trap for White

The worst answer to From's Gambit is 2.g4, which allows 2...Qh4#, the Fool's Mate.

The numbers

On Lichess Black wins slightly more often: 48.7% against 47.5% for White in 2.9 million games. Black is ahead or level below 2200, for example 49.1% against 45.8% under 1400 and 49.0% against 47.0% between 1800 and 2199. From 2200 up White leads, 49.1% against 45.6%. In 406 master games over the board White won 38.4%, Black 27.3%, and 34.2% were drawn.

Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
What would you like to send?

Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links). Submissions are reviewed before publishing.

How to play against the Bird Opening: From's Gambit

The most played answer, 2. fxe5, also scores best for White: 50.9%, with White winning 48.9% and Black 47.2% of 2.1M games. Of the main answers, 2. Nf3 scores lowest: 44.4%. Stockfish's first choice is also 2. fxe5.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Popularity by year

The Bird Opening: From's Gambit has stayed between 0.11% and 0.13% of Lichess games a year since 2016 (0.12% in 2025).

Numbers by year
YearShare of gamesGames
20160.12%42,930
20170.13%70,607
20180.13%101,867
20190.12%155,585
20200.11%326,659
20210.11%417,093
20220.11%404,414
20230.11%417,565
20240.11%404,121
20250.12%409,617
2026 (Jan–Apr)0.13%138,576

Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling

Variations (8)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 1…e5, the position after Bird Opening also goes on to:

Transpositions

From here, a move transposes into another named line:

Sources

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Bird Opening: From's Gambit (A02)”. Lichess data as of 10 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/bird-opening-froms-gambit

https://chesscodex.org/openings/bird-opening-froms-gambit