Katharina Reinecke

German expert

“Before the tournament, I expected him to win one or two games. Overall, he demonstrated his level and can finish the tournament with pride, with 6 points out of 14. He drew twice against tournament winner Sindarov — other than him, only Anish Giri has managed to do so.

So, what went wrong? I hoped Matthias would be underestimated and that many would play him to win. But back in February, he performed well at the Tata Steel tournament, where he defeated Giri and world champion Gukesh, among others. I think his opponents started to respect him more after that and didn’t take unnecessary risks. He had some good games with solid positions, but he lacked decisiveness.

Has he entered the world elite? Not the very top, but the extended elite. He’s still outside the Top-30 in world rankings. But he can definitely compete with the strongest players, and he proved it!”