Openings for Tactical Players: Göring Gambit

The subject of today's discussion is the Göring Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4. c3!?).  Just like practically any gambit, this opening is a very dangerous weapon and since it is not particularly popular these days, most of your opponents will probably be caught by surprise. Of course it is foolish to play any opening just on the basis of surprise value, so let's see if the Göring Gambit is sound.  Of course the sheer fact that this opening was played by both Old Masters (like Adolf Andersen, Aaron Nimzowitcth, Siegbert Tarrasch), as well as by the modern Grandmasters (like Velimirovic, Sermek, Tseitlin amongst others) gives a lot of confidence. Now let's check some particular variations to learn the typical ideas of the opening.

Just like in any gambit, Black can simply reject the sacrifice here too. But in this case White gets the initiative for free as the next classical game shows.