Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
- October 18, 2025
Participant of the Candidates Tournament 2020-2021
Ranking: highest world number two for a total of three months in 2016-2017
Highest FIDE Elo Rating: 2819
Tournament Career: winner of 10 super-tournaments:
4x winner of Biel Chess Festival
2x winner of Sinquefield Cup
winner of Dortmund International Chess Meeting 2016, Grand Chess Tour Bucharest 2022
and two others…
Chess Olympiads: without success
What earned him this:
Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, known as MVL, is a staple of contemporary chess, always near the winner’s podium. He has twice won the prestigious Sinquefield Cup and has generally performed well in the Grand Chess Tour series. He has also won the Biel festival multiple times and is a winner of super-tournaments in Bucharest and Dortmund. His second place in the world and highest rating of 2819 (higher than world champions Anand and Kramnik) are a testament to his greatness. In the Candidates Tournament, the first half of which took place in 2020 and the second due to coronavirus a year later, he finished in a sole second place just half a point behind the winner Nepomniachtchi. It is rare to see this seasoned Frenchman at the bottom of the starting field.
He is also excellent and one of the best in the world in shorter time controls, especially in blitz.
Why he isn’t higher: Considering he is otherwise a very successful player, it is surprising that he has only managed to qualify for the Candidates Tournament once. Many opportunities slipped through his fingers very narrowly. One reason could be his opening repertoire. MVL is known for not changing his openings for many years and sticking to systems he trusts – the Najdorf Sicilian and the Grunfeld Indian. This made it easier to prepare against him, which may have cost him some key points or half-points.
Best Game:
Alexander Morozevich vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Biel 2009
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Miroslav Janeček graduated in English Philology at Palacký University Olomouc. Currently he works in Prague as a content editor for a large marketing company. His roots are in Opava - the historic and cultural centre of the Czech part of Silesia. That city is also the home of Slezan Opava, the chess club where Miroslav started to play chess, later went on to work as a youth coach and which he to this day proudly represents. As an aspiring chess publicist, he is the main author of articles on ChessDB.cz. In his free time, in addition to chess and writing, he also devotes himself to racket sports, history, and literature.