Montpellier, March, Wednesday 17th 2021 : He’s the best French player since 2013, 2nd world best player in
Rapid Chess and regular top 5 world classic chess player. Carried by the international success of the Netflix show “The Queen’s Gambit” but also by the interest that his discipline arouses in the traditional media and esports ecosystem (competitive video game practice), Maxime VACHIER-LAGRAVE known as “MVL” has chosen STAKRN Agency to support him in his long term development strategy.

The Chess Grandmaster (highest title after World Champion), known for his composure, is also a big sports fan, and a video game player on “Fall Guys” or even “Among Us”, which he likes to relax on after training sessions.
Owner of a Twitch channel since 2019, he regularly appears on other channels such as BlitzStream (105 300 followers), or Domingo (990 700 Followers) where he’s recently been invited on the weekly show “Pop Corn”, the must-see for every pop culture, geek and video game culture fan.

A fantastic opportunity

With the world title as only goal, MVL will participate in April in “The Candidates Tournament” (the most prestigious international chess event), to be held in Russia. The winner will face the reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen, later this year in Dubai. Benefiting from good odds for this event, Maxime is looking to further develop his chess footprint, taking advantage of the booming growth of chess in the public eye. Already considered as a legend of his sport, he now has the opportunity to make history!

That is why he has decided to place his trust in STAKRN Agency, which will be in charge of developing sponsorship opportunities, as well as partnerships and marketing activations. Esports & Gaming will also be considered with the opportunity of signing within a professional esports team wishing to associate its development, image and entertainment campaign with the chess genius’.

Some figures about chess

In October 2020, a mini-series telling a story around chess was Netflix’s most viewed show in 63 countries. Besides, chess kept on confirming its great visibility growth and the growing interest of chess players (over 600 million players around the world and 55.000 members of the French Chess Federation in 2018), dedicated websites (59 million members registered on Chess.com, including 1 million regular active players claimed by chess.com), and media (110 million hours watched on Twitch in 2020 for a +457% growth compared to 2019).
The connection between chess and esports is obvious
The lookalike points between chess and esports are numerous: online confrontation, reflection, strategy, anticipation, emotion management, surpassing oneself, or the performance quest. The growing starification of players and the show delivered by some games can also be considered as similarities.
And chess.com understood it perfectly well by recently organising “Pogchamps 3”, a chess tournament involving 14 streamers and youtubers for a USD 100 000$ cashprize benefiting charity.
The number of online games is drastically increasing, rocketed by the sanitary restrictions due to the COVID-19, bringing chess and the gaming world a little closer together. Today, the strong link between the two is obvious and it is based on this observation that MVL wished to study the opportunities of collaboration in the sector by relying on the network and the know-how of STAKRN Agency.

About Maxime VACHIER-LAGRAVE

Maxime was 6 years old in 1997 when he won his first national title, “U8 France Champion”. From then on, the prodigy’s rise never stopped. In order to perform long term, MVL is supported by a professional team to supervise his activities, including Laurent Vérat, his manager, who will work with the STAKRN Agency teams.

To follow Maxime VACHIER-LAGRAVE:

Website : https://www.mvlchess.com/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/Vachier_Lagrave
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/mvl_chess/
Twitch : https://www.twitch.tv/mvlchess

About STAKRN Agency

French company specialized in esports consulting & talents representation, STAKRN Agency offers a custom-made support to its clients in order to conceive the most fitting gaming and esports strategy, while bringing its unique expertise on talents support in sports and esports.

To follow STAKRN Agency :

Site : https://www.stakrn-agency.com
Twitter : https://twitter.com/Stakrn_Agency
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/stakrn-agency/

Press contact :

Hugo Miron, Communication Manager
hugo@stakrn.com