Declining any kind of Jerome Gambit can only be justified for "psychological" reasons, as the defender is swapping at least an even game - and often a better game - for a worse one. Yet, as the new batch of games added to The Database shows, it still happens.
lksharma - Zaprax
blitz, FICS, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4
4.Bxf7+
The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.
4...Ke7
There is no need to decline the Bishop, as Black gets a roughly even game with the capture.
5.Nxe5 d6
White has scored 61% from this position, in 130 games in The Database. Given that the first player is two pawns up, that relatively low success rate is probably a reflection of play at the club (and blitz) level.
6.Qh5
This looks aggressive ("one more log on the fire") but has not always worked for White - see crokit - sahistonline, blitz, FICS, 2011 for one other time out of ten games that it did - and the more prosaic 6.Bxg8 Rxg8 would not hand over the advantage to the second player as the text does.
6...dxe5
This move is good for Black, but challenging the White Queen with 6...Nf6 was even stronger.
7.Qg5+ Kd7
Again, 7...Nf6 was the move. It looks as if Black were responding to the possibility of 7...Kxf7 8.Qxd8, giving up his Queen; but, had he chosen that move order, after 8...Nxc2+ 9.Kf1 Bd6 10.Nc3 Nxa1 the game would have been about even.
analysis diagram
8.Qxe5 Nxc2+
Falling for the bait. Houdini prefers consolidation with 8...c5 9.Nc3 Nf6 10.Bb3 Bd6 11.Qg5 Kc7 12.d3 Kb8 13.Bf4 Re8 14.Bxd6+ Qxd6 15.0-0-0 a6 16.f4 Qc7 with Black as slightly better.
analysis diagram
9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Qe6 checkmate
