Format
RM
Retief, Matthew
🇿🇦FIDE 14388944· Male· South Africa· Born in 2008
Follow Matthew RetiefTrack his monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
Matthew Retief, a 18-year-old South African player, is rated 1818 — his current career high. He is on a breakout run, having gained +169 Elo over the past 12 months. 29 rated games in the past year (≈20/year long-term). Recent standard appearances include 2026 South African Junior Closed (U18 Boys), 2025 Mzansi Inter Provincial Team Championships (U18 Open Championship), and Bojanalas FIDE ON THE ORION EXPRESS (Queens).
At junior level, he reached #17 and #57 nationally in U18 and U16.
Current rating
1818
Standard
Rpd—·Blz—
All-time high
1818
at best
May 2026 · age 18
May 2026 · age 18
Activity
19
games / yr avg. · ≈2/mo
27 past 12 mo · ≈2/mo
classical only
Moderately active
classical only
Moderately active
Signature stat
#70,754
#70,754 · players worldwide · of 218,279
Career timeline
7 entries2026
17th South African U18 player
at age 18 · rated 1818
May 2026
Best 12-month gain (+196 Elo)
1622 → 1818
May 2026
Crossed 1800
at age 18
May 2026
All-time peak 1818
at age 18
May 2026
2025
Crossed 1600
at age 17
Mar 2025
2024
57th South African U16 player
at age 16 · rated 1582
Sep 2024
Standard rating history
Peak
FIDE title
Threshold
First rated
Activity & highlights
Evolution
+138
1680 → 1818
Tournaments
4
28 games
Score
16/ 2857.1%
11W10D7L
Top 3 wins
Top 3 losses
1.[L]vsJames CHIPUNZA1,812·2025 Mzansi Inter Provincial Team Championships (U18 Open Championship)·R5·-17.3
3.[L]vsWeilun YanCM1,958·2025 Mzansi Inter Provincial Team Championships (U18 Open Championship)·R2·-9.9
Last 12 months — tournaments
4 events| Event | Date | Score | Rank | Perf | Δ Elo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Open Swiss | Mar 2026 | 6/9 | #7 | 1871 | +48.0 |
Team | Dec 2025 | 3.5/5 | #27 | 1930 | +4.8 |
Swiss | Oct 2025 | 3.5/6 | #14 | 2038 | +84.8 |
Swiss | Jun 2025 | 3/7 | #9 | 1828 | +29.6 |
Hot streak: 4 tournaments without losing Elo.
Rankings
/
South Africa
#211
out of 1,876 players
Africa
#2,320
in continent
World
#70,753
out of 400,000+
National ranking
Europe & World
Europe
World
South Africa
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| 2320 | 1,818 | |
World
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| 70753 | 1,818 | |