Vachier-Lagrave Signs With Team Vitality Ahead Of Esports World Cup
French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has officially joined Team Vitality, becoming the latest chess star to sign with an esports organization ahead of the 2025 Esports World Cup (EWC).
The French club, founded in 2013, has grown into one of Europe's leading esports organizations and competes in 13 major games. Team Vitality has now announced the acquisition of the 2021 World Blitz Chess Champion in a press release to its 13 million fans on social media.
“We are thrilled to announce that Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has signed with Team Vitality and will be representing us at the Esports World Cup and beyond,” said Danny Engels, Corporate Director of Global Operations at Team Vitality, adding: "Maxime is one of the best players in the world, and with his talent and determination, we do not doubt that together, we will bring home trophies."
Maxime is one of the best players in the world, and with his talent and determination, we do not doubt that together, we will bring home trophies.
—Team Vitality
Mercato Checkmate ♟️
— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) February 11, 2025
Bienvenue dans la ruche @Vachier_Lagrave 💛🐝 pic.twitter.com/1nPycKI7j6
Chess will make its debut at the world's largest gaming festival EWC, set for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from July 31 to August 3. Vachier-Lagrave will also now represent Team Vitality in the $150,000 Chessable Masters, which begins on February 16 and serves as the first of two qualifying events in the 2025 Champions Chess Tour. The top-12 players from the tour qualify for the EWC.
The qualification process has fueled an intense race between esports organizations to recruit top players to ensure they have the best talent on their rosters before the summer showdown. The French 34-year-old is the third player to be signed for an esports team after GM Arjun Erigaisi (Gen.G) and GM Volodar Murzin (All Gamers Global) signed contracts last week.
"I’m absolutely thrilled to join Team Vitality for this new adventure in the world of esports! Competing for Team Vitality this year is an exciting challenge, and the two qualifying tournaments will be key milestones in my 2025 season for qualifying in the EWC. Seeing chess take its place alongside some of the biggest games in esports is incredible—it’s a fantastic opportunity to grow the game and inspire the next generation of players," Vachier-Lagrave said.
Seeing chess take its place alongside some of the biggest games in esports is incredible—it’s a fantastic opportunity to grow the game and inspire the next generation of players.
—Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
If I checkmate first, you can't checkmate me pic.twitter.com/r7uZXsuK9X
— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) February 11, 2025
The format this season is 10 minutes for the entire game, without increment, which should suit speed chess specialist MVL well.
Terms of the contract are not disclosed, but players signing an esports contract tend to make deals that vary from five figures to multimillion-dollar sponsorship. The total chess prize pool in the Esports World Cup is $1.5 million.
Tarjei J. Svensen is a Norwegian chess journalist who worked for some of the country's biggest media outlets and appeared on several national TV broadcasts. Between 2015 and 2019, he ran his chess website mattogpatt.no, covering chess news in Norwegian and partly in English.
In 2020, he was hired by Chess24 to cover chess news, eventually moving to Chess.com as a full-time chess journalist in 2023. He is also known for his extensive coverage of chess news on his X/Twitter account.
