Is it just me or is King's Gambit really on a rise?

Pikay, 

I would recommend you use chess.com's Explorer feature.  If you are not familiar with it, it let's you browse master games and narrow it down by openings.  Just make the moves from the right hand column and it shows you the win/lose statistics based on that position.   If you click on e4, then choose black's move, then you can see the win/lose statistics of masters.

At that point, visible here:

https://www.chess.com/explorer?moveList=e4+c5&ply=2

You will see that e4 is #6 on the list.  It's win statistics are 34%, versus blacks 40%.   That basically confirms it's not the strongest opening, but it's not horrific either.  At this position, the best move, statistically, is nf3.  

Of course, you can examine statistics based on different moves for black's first move.  

This type of analysis is really the best way to assess opening moves because these are all masters' games so the statistics will be based on people that had a deep understanding of the various openings. 

If it is on the rise, it would be like any opening that is the "flavor of the month" It seemed like everyone was playing the Berlin after the Carlsen/Anand match.

Pikay,

I enjoyed going through your game.  It was a real smackdown!  Someone destroyed me on my KG opening recently just like you did in that game.  Fortunately he blundered and I flipped the advantage and won the game.  But it was that game that showed me that I have a lot to learn about this opening.  I'm not a fan of it myself so far, still learning.  But statistically it's not horrible. I think people just don't know how to develop from a KG.  

it is risky to start with these moves, but if you'll be more careful the match won't be bad for you

for example, there you could have done the castle

Yeah right! THIS is how carries on after 7.Qxg4??

I browsed a couple of master's games and found this solution.  This blocks your queen attack.  Maybe you can still kick some butt from this position.  But it looks like a better defense to your attack by black.

I burst out laughing when I saw this. According to Stockfish, White is in fact in possession of a clear advantage (+1.44 evaluation at a depth of 20!). This means that White's compensation is worth around 6 1/2 "points" of material. Black's extra Rook isn't much good in this position where White has far superior development and threats on Black's king and also Black's Queen is badly misplaced so it can't get into action right away. I would surely favor White here.

So. We begin a game from this position then? The game to be posted here on chess.com

lol why would you want to start a game in an already almost lost position

If you want, then yes. But I am a little hesitant to play a game against you where I would have such an advantage from the starting position. Perhaps you want it to be unrated?

After 11 Bxh6 dxe5 12 Qxe5+ Be6 13 Qxh8, White has regained the rook with the better position.

+1

see John Shaw's "The King's Gambit" for more info

White is much better here. after BxH6 black is almost lost

Kings gambit is a hyper-tactical opening. If nothing else, this thread is the proof of it. I play it because it develops my tactical skills and to value piece activity over material points.

Even Top 10 players like Anand could fall victim to KG.

1995 was where engines were weaker than human. If you let Anand play the same KID today, he won't do 3. ...Nf6??. But will likely play 3....g5!

The standard of game play from today will be quite better than those from 25+ years ago.  

I highly doubt you will see King gambit in 2700+ players in 2019.

In 2017, the engines were invincible already! Yet former WC Kasparov tried the KG against a 2700+ player. It's a matter of taste if you like KG.