Mexican Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6

The Mexican Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A50, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,909 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 3. Nc3 (44% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.43 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 e6 5. a3 Be7)

ECO: A50
Moves: 4 plies
FEN: r1bqkb1r/pppppppp/2n2n2/8/2PP4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	643	55%42%
1500-1999	694	49%48%
2000+	572	42%52%
All	1,909	49%47%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
3. Nc3	835 (44%)	46%50%
3. Nf3	533 (28%)	50%46%
3. d5	330 (17%)	51%47%
3. e3	115 (6%)	52%44%
3. g3	20 (1%)	50%40%
3. Bf4	20 (1%)	65%35%
3. Bg5	20 (1%)	55%40%
3. a3	13 (1%)	38%16%46%

Master games

3,271 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 17%, Black 44%). The strongest:

GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2726) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2828) 1-0 · Chess24 October Blitz · 2020-10-01
GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2700) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 24th Jan Late · 2023-01-24
GM Matthias Bluebaum (2660) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2804) 0-1 · Titled Tue 13th May Early · 2025-05-13
GM Varuzhan Akobian (2645) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2817) 0-1 · PRO League KO Stage 2017 · 2017-03-25
GM Alexey Sarana (2664) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2792) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 9th Jul 2026 · 2026-07-09

Search all games of the Mexican Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Mysterious_Spy (2795) – FM Squoznyak (2869) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
CM CheckingMastar (2735) – BilBog123 (2665) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
IM Roshka_Yevgeniy (2832) – TacticalMammoth (2554) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Indian Defense: Normal Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4

Continuations

Mexican Defense: Horsefly Gambit A50 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6 3. d5 Ne5 4. f4

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.