French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave discussed his chess earnings in an interview with Neo.tv. Maxime says he earned €60,000-€70,000 at the beginning of his professional career, and calls 2025 his best year, earning over €600,000.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

French GM

“When I was just starting my professional career and also playing in team competitions, which provided additional income, I was earning about €60,000-€70,000 per year. That’s after taxes and everything.

Now it’s significantly more. When I entered the Top-10, my income quickly grew. For a while, it remained at a stable level — around €100,000 per year before expenses. Then the amount quickly rose: €200,000, €300,000…

I think my best year was last year — I earned over €600,000, of which I invest about €200,000 into various things: coaches, my team, and so on.”

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is France’s No. 2 and World’s No. 26. Maxime is a former World Blitz Champion and a three-time French Chess Champion. MVL earned nearly $2,900,000 in prize money over his career, according to data from liquipedia.net. Magnus Carlsen leads all players in career prize money, with approximately $11,500,000.

Credit: Lennart Ootes