This weak defense gives white a large advantage after 3.Nxe5, but even if he chooses simple development instead he still gets an advantage because black's K-side has been badly weakened bu 2...f6.
The opening is named after the Portuguese player/author Pedro Damiano (1480–1544), despite the fact that even he condemned it as weak.
Obviously you'll never see it in master play. The last great player to use it was Chigorin who played 3...Qe7 against Schiffers at St. Petersburg 1897...Chigorin lost his Queen in the opening. You'd think he would have resigned then, but Schiffers' subsequent play was quite weak. Chigorin later missed a forced mate and only escaped when Schiffers agreed to a draw in a winning position.
It is possible to play it and may be get away with it at lower levels where sometimes just about anything will work.
Interestingly, in a 1964 simultaneous the 1955 and 1956 Wyoming state champion, 1979 Texas Amateur Champion and several several time Texas Senior champion Robert McGregor played it against Bobby Fischer and managed to draw.
Obviously, Fischer didn't play his best game, but even so, if it caught Fischer (who played better in simuls than most players we'll ever run into in a tournament) it might be worth a try at least once in a while. The game was part of a nationwide tour Fischer made in 1964.
Robert Fischer–Robert McGregor½–½C40Simultaneous, Houston28.03.1964Stockfish 15
Damiano's Defense 1.e4 e5 2.f3 f6 According to Horowitz a strong reply
is either 3.d4 or the simple and potent 3.Bc4 3.xe5 This is the most
forceful because taking the N with 3...fxe5? exposes black to a deadly attack. 3.d4 is best met by the rather surprising d5 4.exd5 xd5 5.c3 b4 6.d2 xc3 7.xc3 e4 8.d2 e7 9.c4 with a significant advantage. 3.c4 d6 4.d4 c6 5.0-0 and white is better, but there is no immediate, forcing way
to bigger gains. 3...e7 This is black's best move. 3...fxe5 4.h5+ g6 5.xe5+ e7 6.xh8 ec6 7.c4 b4 8.xh7 d3+ 9.cxd3 d6 10.f7# Vachier
Lagrave,M (2434)-Benmessaoud,Y Cergy Pontoise 2004 3...g6 is just awful. 4.f3 g7 5.c3 c6 6.d4 d6 7.f4 White has a decisive advantage. Velchev,
H (2298)-Djermic,I (2077) Bosnjaci CRO 2010 4.f3 d5 5.d3 The less
effective 5.Be2 was played in Ivekovic,A (1888)-Hosticka,F (2185) Nachod 2009 dxe4 6.dxe4 xe4+ 7.e2 f5 7...c6 as played by Chigorin is better, but
it's still a long way from equalizing. 8.0-0 d7 9.c3 g6 10.e5 xe5 11.h5 White is winning, but on move 34 he agreed to a draw in a won position.
Emmanuel Schiffers-Mikhail Chigorin St. Petersburg 1897 8.d4 8.c3
is stronger. After xc2 9.xc2 xc2 10.d4 g6 11.f4 White's huge lead
in development is plenty of compensation for the c-Pawn. 8...c6 9.xf5 xf5 10.0-0 d6 11.g4 b5 12.c3 c4 Somewhat better was 12...Qa5, not
that it really matters. 13.e2 With this move Fischer throws away all of
his advantage. 13.e1+ ge7 14.e6 b4 15.e4 White has a winning
position. 13...f7 14.b5 0-0-0 The obvious threat is ...Bxh2+ winning
the Q. 15.g4+ f5 Much the best! 15...b8 16.xc6 bxc6 17.e3
followed by Qa4 leaves black in dire straits. 16.h3 ge7 17.e4 h6 17...e5 Things get crazy after this! 18.d2 f6 19.e1 xb2 20.e4 d4 21.xb2 xb2 22.c4 d4 23.ab1 xa2 24.c5 xb5 25.cxb5 b8 26.e6 and the
game could go either way. 18.xd6+ xd6 19.f4 d4 It was probably safer
to play 19...Rd8 20.e3 b4 21.xc6 21.c4 keeps a slight edge after xb2 22.c5 e2 23.xe7 xe7 24.d3 e4 25.f3 e5 26.d4 f6 27.xa7 with
the advantage. 21...xc6 22.b3 At this point all of white's advantage has
vanished. e4 23.fd1 d8 24.xd8+ xd8 25.d1 e6 26.g3 xe3 Draw
agreed. ½–½
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