Refutation to the Stafford Gambit "magic line" I thought I had finally discovered a cure-all to the mainline Stafford gambit that's made waves on youtube, but as soon as I felt like I found lines where black can't possibly get enough play, the biggest Stafford exponents of this so-called &quot;magic line&quot; seem to have found improvements that still give black chances. The line I am discussing here begins after 8...Qh4!:
[FEN &quot;&quot;]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 {The Stafford Gambit. White has many tries, but there's really only one way black can make white's life uncomfortable in the mainline that I am trying to analyze - the so-called &quot;magic line&quot;:} 5. d3 Bc5 6. Be2 h5 (6... Ng4?! 7. Bxg4 Qh4! 8. g3 Qxg4 9. Qxg4 Bxg4 10. Nd2 O-O-O 11. O-O Bh3 12. Re1)  (6... O-O?? 7. c3 Re8 8. O-O) 7. c3 Ng4 8. d4 Qh4 9. g3 Qf6 10. f3 h4 11. fxg4 {I believe this is white's best move and I'm mostly looking for improvements beyond this point} hxg3 12. Be3 12... Rxh2 13. Rg1 Qh4 14. dxc5 (14. Nd2!? 14... Be7 15. Nf3 Qh7 16. Nxh2 gxh2 17. Rh1 Qxe4 18. Kd2!!) 14... Be6 (14... Bxg4? 15. Bxg4 Rd8 16. Bd4 g2+ 17. Kd2 Qf2+ 18. Kd3!! (18. Kc1?? Rxd4!! 19. cxd4 Qxg1!! 20. Qxg1 Rh1)) 15. Na3 Rd8 16. Bd4 b6!! {Leela suggestion that keeps the position uncomfortable} 17. cxb6 axb6 18. Qd3 c5 19. O-O-O cxd4 20. cxd4

There are certainly many alternatives for both players throughout this analysis. One extremely interesting game between Jonathan Schrantz and Stockfish occurred after 11. dxc5 Be6!! 12. Qd4 Ne5! and he was able to get a draw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp75rbkIAYU). Another interesting game between IM Eric Rosen and IM halfnatty on lichess went 15. Nd2? O-O-O 16. Qa4?? Rxe2 and black won immediately (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68H5DnAVQwo). I inserted my only game in this line into the above analysis, where we both made mutual blunders on move 14 and 18 just to highlight some of the ways this can go horribly wrong (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcfifxkyC8A).
Looking forward to people's feedback on these positions. Did I miss any important tries for black? Are there easier ways forward for white? Throughout this line, Stockfish says +5 or more, but Leela seems to like black's chances a lot more... needless to say, it's all incredibly complicated.
one improvement could be on move 11. Rg1 rather than 11.f.g4, though they are both good,
also on move 15. Na3 doesn't make sense, 15Bd4 with the idea of Qd3 is more playable, aslo g5 could be considered too,
but I'd agree with the comments by Pablo, it is not worth your time and it is a dubious gambit, just play either Nc3 and get a playable game, there are much more to learn that just some second hand gambit, unless you just want to play blitz and have no ambition to be better OTB player.