Petroff Kholmov Gambit

How good is this gambit? I don't really see it often but it looks like an interesting move at least because you avoid a lot of mainline theory.

This "Kholmov" gambit was played by Damiano as early as 1497 A.D. :

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1336243

Damiano is White in that game. Also in the opening classification it says:

Russian Game: Damiano Variation. Kholmov Gambit

Anyway, since Damiano's opponent is unknown, it should be attributed to Damiano.

I don't have the statistics handy, but I decided not to risk this defense as Black when I was looking at very symmetrical defenses because Black's statistics weren't good. Many people think it's a loss / opening trap for Black, but that's not true: Black can survive but he has to struggle. I prefer not to have to struggle. It's roughly analogous to 1. e4 e5 2. d4 d5 in that Black can probably survive, but Black's position is worse than it should be, and it *feels* worse when played, plus it requires extra memorization. It just don't feel right, Joe.

yes

When I last played it (also the only time) I was around 1500 rating. It was intuitive to me to trade queens in this position ("I'm up a pawn, i want to trade pieces"). Actually after queen trade Stockfish gives only +0,2 to white. It is really hard to defend the pawn and if white tries too hard, bad things might happen. Often you will have the bishop pair against the bishop and the knight in the open position at the cost of a pawn. 

There is even video on YouTube where Nakarmura plays Kholmov as white against Anish Giri Bot and doesn't even bother to defend the pawn and says that the position is equal.

In my opinion it can actually be played as a low theory, intuitive, surprise weapon even if it's not objectively very good.