I wonder how Maxime Vachier-Lagrave feels about being supplanted as France's #1? At this rate, he'll be in great company, as 18-year-old Alireza Firouzja has passed almost everyone in the world, not just in France, and sits at #4 in the Live Rating List. He's not far behind Fabiano Caruana for the #3 spot, either; in fact, if he wins his next game or two in the European Team Championship he will be #3, and if he has a great finish to the event (five rounds remain) he could even pass Ding Liren to take over the #2 spot. That would be crazy, but Firouzja's success at this young age is already crazy. Only Magnus Carlsen managed to cross the 2800 barrier as an 18-year-old, and Firouzja still has seven months to get another ten rating points.
Just last week he won the FIDE Grand Swiss, and he still seems to have plenty of energy - or at least enough - to succeed against the opposition he has faced in the first four rounds. The games haven't been perfect, but they've been good - certainly good enough - against his sub-2700-rated opponents. We'll see if he can keep up his stellard results through the end of the event; for now, have a look at his first four games, with my comments.