Traxler

Is it not?

@pn2206 Now that e4 pawn is protected, the whole Bf2 thing makes zero sense. 0-0 instead of d6 just leaves Black slightly preferable.

@william_chen Nope, the Traxler is e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Nf6 Ng5 Bc5 Nxf7(or Bxf7) Bxf2, but what was played in the game was the first 3 moves were the same, but insted of white playing Ng5, white in the game played d3 and black replied d6, so the Traxler doesn't work out because the e4 pawn is defended,when in the normal Traxler its not, as Sheldonleecooper points out above.

@davidharoldchess at your level people don't know how to defend. At my level, the traxler is suicide in rapid.

#34
That is exagerated. Counterexample:

@Maninabunnysuite genuinely curious... do people at your level manage to find all of the correct moves (i.e. they win because their defence was perfect)? In my experience I can often get objectively winning positions against much higher rated opponents (of course, if I don't mate them I usually blunder later and lose anyway - that's what happens when you have really poor time management...). I do find I have to do a LOT of memorisation for the Traxler to be playable though... it's certainly not an opening you can play well with just your instincts (unless you're just master level at tactics I guess?). I'm talking 10-15 moves deep in a lot of lines... it's not uncommon for me to play the whole game just from "book" moves. I would be interested to know how much memorisation other people who play the Traxler do though!