Indian Defense: Medusa Gambit
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5
The Indian Defense: Medusa Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO A50, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5. It is a line of the Indian Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 61 times by this move order. White won 54%, 3% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3. Bxg5 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.65 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 3. Bxg5 Ne4 4. Bf4 c5 5. Qc2 Qb6)
- ECO
- A50
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppppp1p/5n2/6p1/2PP4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 15 | |
| 1500-1999 | 37 | |
| 2000+ | 9 | |
| All | 61 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Bxg5 | 23 (38%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 22 (36%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 7 (11%) | |
| 3. e3 | 3 (5%) | |
| 3. e4 | 2 (3%) | |
| 3. d5 | 1 (2%) | |
| 3. b3 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
18 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 72%, draw 11%, Black 17%). The strongest:
- GM Alexey Sarana (2703) – IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg (2442) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Apr Early · 2024-04-23
- GM Alexey Sarana (2679) – GM Artur Gabrielian (2419) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Nov Early · 2024-11-12
- IM Bojan Maksimovic (2503) – GM Sasa Martinovic (2563) 1/2-1/2 · 22nd Premier League BIH · 2024-09-03
- Yusuf Eren Kavri (2137) – GM Bardiya Daneshvar (2604) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st Jan Early · 2025-01-21
- GM Andrei Belozerov (2411) – IM Ulrich Schulze (2308) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Sep Early · 2023-09-12
Search all games of the Indian Defense: Medusa Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Fairy_Wren (2181) – Belserg (2341) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
- TheFinnisher (2412) – BrenSasot (2093) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- alirezaGm1020 (2171) – glenny2 (2251) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Indian Defense: Normal Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4
More Indian Defense lines (all)
- Indian Defense: Pseudo-Benko A43
- Indian Defense (1. d4 Nf6) A45
- Indian Defense: Accelerated London System A45
- Indian Defense: Gedult Attack A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit Accepted A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Maltese Falcon A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Oshima Defense A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Stummer Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Lazard Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Maddigan Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Omega Gambit A45
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.