Has 3.Bc4 in the King's Gambit Accepted really been refuted?

    Thanks for the info. I guess I didn't make it clear enough that I was joking. Either that, or, more likely, it just wasn't funny. Yes, of course the move has nothing to do with the actor or the Mason-Dixon Line. The chess master James Mason (1849 - 1905) was indeed one of the top players of his day. He played the KG frequently early on in his career, but seems to have stayed away from it after 1880.

      The Rosenthal game is quite interesting. But more often he seems to have played the 3.Bc4 line. Here he faces a strange move, 3...f5, attributed to the 16th century player Gianutio. I think it was actually quite popular in the 19th century, but today it's considered kind of inferior. Mason cobbers the always entertaining Henry Bird in this game......