Not a good way of taking advantage of blacks terrible second move. the reason 2...Bd6 is bad is because it blocks his d pawn, by exchanging on e5 you have rewarded his terrible play.

3. d5!

Just take the bishop. It's actually a very strong, 'well-posted' piece until you snatch it, and you shouldn't play Nc3 before you've taken care of the ... Bxc3 threat that really just equalizes. The bishop is stronger than the knight here, and the recapture ... Nxe5 will lose time eventually to f4 or Bf4. Allowing him to play something like 5... d6 and equalize the pawn structure after a recapture is not great.

It is best to take the bishop here because after 1...Nxe5 2Nxe5 Qd5 white has no effective plan for defending the knight at e5 and the mate on f7

isthisrealifex's idea doesn't work, but Bxf7 Kxf7 Qd5 Kf6 is an interesting sacrifice

isthisrealfex - Except for Nxc4   Reply:byakuugan3's idea works - Bxf7 Kxf7 Qd5 Kf6 Bg5 -

Not exactly. You can play 9.Bxf7 followed by Qd5 (which you want to play anyway) to win back the piece pawn w/ king exposure. That way you keep some advantage.

As scottyad points out, instead of 9.Qd5 in the game continuation, 9.Bxf7ch recovers the pawn and gives White a big lead in development, with prospects of a strong attack against Black's uncasled King. The lack of structure to White's Q-side pawns is scarcely relevant and a minor price to pay. But to revert to generalities, as a rule the bishop-pair isn't worth a pawn, especially bearing in mind White would have doubled and isolated pawns as well. A bishop pair might just compensate for the kind of pawn structure White gets in this game. Naturally, other factors may alter the case.

11...Nf6 looks safer...

12...Qf6 seems much better for black here, removing the queen for the eyes of the rook and defending h6, and black probably has time to unravel. I'm not even sure white would have enough after ...Qf6 as i can see no obvious way of continuing the attack.

13...gxh6 14.Qg6ch Kh8 15.Qxh6ch Kg8 16.Ng5 (if 16.Qg6ch Kh8 17.Ng5 fxg6 18.Rxe7 Nxe7 and Black is, shall we say, still in the game?) 16...Bf5 17.Rxe7 Nxe7 18.Qf6 wins a piece.