Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials MVL, is a leading French chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy. He became the ninth youngest grandmaster at the age of 14 years, four months on 20 February 2005.
Maxime has represented France at six Chess Olympiads (2006–2016), and won two individual silver medals. His other notable tournament victories include Biel Chess Festival (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015), Gibraltar Chess Festival (2015), Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (2015), London Chess Classic (2018), Sinquefield Cup (2017), Croatia Grand Chess Tour (2019), and Paris Rapid & Blitz (2017, 2018, 2019).
Vachier-Lagrave is a major expert in the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence and the Grünfeld Defence. He is also known for his ability in fast controls; he was Silver medallist in both the 2012 and 2014 World Blitz Chess Championships and Captured the French Chess960 Championship Title in 2019. He is particularly strong in bullet chess.