Subvariation 2 Nf6 (this leads to the Mestrel, which is extremely complicated and no one really knows who is better. Usually black plays Ng4 soon after.)

Variation 2.
1. f4 d5 (more common than the From's)
2. Nf3 (here it all depends on what move order black plays, i beleive that the following move order is best for black.) ...2 g6 (preventing white's fianchetto which is very powerful)

Subvariation 2.1 (the classical Bird's, which is quite strong i find) 3. e3 Bg7
4. Be2 c5
5. 0-0 Nc6
6. d3 Nf6
7. The key position here there are many alternatives, and it just depends on your personal taste, I personally prefer the straightforward Nc3, but thats just personal opinion.

Subvariation 2.2 The Antoshin (not that strong if black knows how to defend, but i hvae never met someone who plays it correctly as black. A great shocker weapon, white will often castle queenside and play Rdg1 and go for the kill, i've won many games within 25 moves or so with this variation, though ultimately I do't find it the main line.)

1. f4 d5
2. Nf3 g6
3. d3 Bg7
4. c3 Nf6 (or whatever)
5. Qc2 white aims for e4 again, just like in the above mentioned classical variation to set up a very stong pawn duo at e4+f4.

variation 3 ( the stonewall, very solid, I believe Knight13 mentions it earlier, only problems are two built in weaknesses, bad queenside bishop and e4, so white should aim to fix those two, if he's successfull he'll have a definite advantage.) basic move order is something like this.
1. f4 d5
2. Nf3 g6
3. e3 Nf6
4. d4 (or something to that effect.

Varitaion 4. the leningrad bird. in this system white finachetto's queenside, it's a very solid system with good chances for advantage, but i find it less aggressive (albei solider) than others, ont the best things is it avoids the so called "recipe" lines, wipes them off the board completely) basic setup of leningrad is as follows

1. f4 d5
2. Nf3 g6
3. g3 Bg7
4. Bg2 (white then castles and plays for the center)

Variation 5 the queenside fianchetto and the very dangerous Bird/Orangutaun

The reason that in all those aforementioned lines black plays ...2 g6 is to prevent white from fianchettoing queenside which can be extremley powerful. The normal line is to just play b3, but i prefer the more adventerous b4!?, this is the bird/orangutaun, it's mostly untested (like most of these variations) but i have been getting great results with it. I find that if white can easily fianchetto queenside then he should have a substantial advantage. Also in these lines white aims to be able to play Bb5 pinning the knight on c6 and then trading to get complete dark squared controll, this is why it's so important for black to stop qhite from fianchettoing, though white is perfectly fine regardless.

Last variation the so called "Recipe" variation. In almost all opening books that cover the Bird's (many don't period) they offer an early Bg4 as a solution to all of blacks problems, which is naive. The Bird Leningrad destroys the recipe, though other variations to find 2, but with very sharp play.

Lets look at the leningrad first.

1. f4 d5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. g3 Bg4
4. Bg2 Nc6
5.0-0 Bxf3 (expecting 5. Bxf3 then e5 and play isn't bad at all. but... white instead plays) 6. Rxf3 e5
7. fxe5 (usually you don't take, but here it's very strong) Nxe5 8. Rf5 and black is already in trouble.

In the recipe variations that aren't the leningrad, white should NOT capture with fxe5 (then black has a excellent position), instead pursue a stonewall, once black plays e5 then white should play d4 and white is fine with a slight edge.

Those are most of the main variations for both white and black. In general I would say take the queenside fianchetto if they let you, and again Bb5 if they let you as well. If black plays an early g6 to prevent you from fianchettoing I reccomend either the classical or the antoshin. The leningrad is a perfectly fine and solid system, although not as aggressive as others, though still peffectly fine. If black play's the From either accept or transpose to the king's gambit, both are fine. And if black plays the so called "recipe" then fight back with a stonewall position and a slightedge. The stonewall position is important cause it shows up a lot from other variations as well. there's nothing wrong with a stonewall, it just depends on yor personal preference.

Well thats about my variations of the Bird's in a nutshell.

...1 Nf6 is a very common response to the Bird's but i beleive it to be inferior to ...1 d5 because it hands white the fianchetto which in combination with the knight at f3 and the pawns at f4 and e3, usually mean complete center domination of the dark squares. ...1 Nf6 is playable for black, but to play it is practically garunteed that you will have to try to nullify whites fianchetto or work around it, not easy to do. Overall i beleive that ...1 d5 is stronger.

<who> yes it is amazingly annoying, as such i play nf3 first. 2. b3 is playable atlthough i beleive inferior. In my experience white aims to fianchetto with good reason but he should not be overly hasty about it. A example is the following game which almost everyone on here should recognize. Lasker vs. Bauer 1889

1.f4 d5
2.e3 nf6
3.b3?!

here black did not play ...3 d4! and ended up getting killed by Lasker's brillian double bishop sacrifice. however if he had, black white's center pawn structure would have cracked regardless of what he did. While ideally all Bird's players love to have a fianchetto on the queenside, thats not the only good line. An example is the classical. If white fianchetto's on the queenside then he has nothing protecting the f4 pawn and as such not reccomended. However if white does NOT fianchetto the classical is very strong and well-neigh unavoidable for black. In my opinion and experience if white is allowed to fianchetto he should do so without much worries, but I firmly beleive that white should play Nf3 and e3 first to solidify the center at least a reasonable amount and get a grip on the dark squares, THEN add the bishop fianchetto. Of course that's just my personal preference. In some lines though like the previuosly mentioned Nf6 line and basically whenever black plays Nf6 before g6 there is no rush, as such white should definately take his time there.

"I trotted Steinitz the closest heat he ever contested. He beat me 8 to 7, with 6 draws. This was in '67. In '58 Morphy beat me 10 to 1, with 1 draw. Steinitz claims that he is a better player than ever Morphy was, but I think my record with each is a fair test of the strength of the two. Steinitz claims that when I played with Morphy I was out of practice, but I cannot explain away my crushing defeat by that great player in any such way. I never played better chess in my life than when he beat me."

---henry bird