Oluwafemi Balogun | |
---|---|
Country | Nigeria |
Born | 1987 (age 35–36) Owerri, Nigeria |
Title | International Master (2017) |
Peak rating | 2308 (January 2022) |
Oluwafemi Daniel Balogun (born 1987) is a Nigerian chess player.
In 2016, Balogun won the Africa Zone 4.4 Individual Championship, and as a result he was awarded the title FIDE Master. The following year, Balogun won this event for the second time and qualified to play in the Chess World Cup, held later in the same year in Batumi, Georgia. He was also granted the title International Master for this victory. [1]
In the Chess World Cup 2017, Balogun was defeated by World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the first round, becoming the first African to play against a reigning world champion in a competitive match. [2] In 2021 he won the Nigerian chess championships. In the Chess World Cup 2023, he was defeated by Alexandr Predke in the first round. [3]
Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and has the eighth highest peak FIDE rating of all-time. In 2022, he was elected the deputy president of FIDE.
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. He is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning four-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning six-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the elite level in classical chess.
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura is a Japanese-born American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTube content creator, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Levon Grigori Aronian is an Armenian-American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at age 17. He is a former world rapid and blitz champion and has held the No. 2 position in the March 2014 FIDE world chess rankings with a rating of 2830, becoming the fourth highest-rated player in history.
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster.
Nikita Kirillovich Vitiugov is a chess grandmaster who internationally represents England as of September 2023 but is of Russian heritage. He changed federations in response to the Russia-Ukraine war. He was a member of the victorious Russian team at the World Team Chess Championship in 2009 and 2013. Vitiugov won the Gibraltar Masters tournament in 2013 and the Grenke Open in 2017. Vitiugov won the 2021 Russian Chess Championship.
Anish Kumar Giri is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the grandmaster title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days. Giri is a five-time Dutch champion and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at six Chess Olympiads. He has also won major international tournaments, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, 2017 Reykjavik Open, 2023 Tata Steel Chess, and shared 1st place in the 2015 London Chess Classic. In 2019 he won clear first at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters, deemed by some to be his first supertournament victory.
Ding Liren is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. He is the highest-rated Chinese chess player in history and also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals and winning the 2019 Sinquefield Cup—the first player since 2007 to beat Magnus Carlsen in a playoff. Ding is the first Chinese player ever to play in a Candidates Tournament and pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE world rankings. In July 2016, with a Blitz rating of 2875, he was the highest-rated Blitz player in the world. In July 2023, Ding became the No. 1 ranked Rapid player, with a rating of 2830.
Samuel Sevian is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 10 months and 27 days, making him the youngest ever American Grandmaster at the time. He also broke all US age records in reaching the titles of National and International Master.
Samuel L. Shankland is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018.
Bobby Cheng is a New Zealand-Australian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2019. Cheng was world champion in the under 12 category in 2009, the only Australian in history to win a world title. Cheng won Australian Open championship in 2013 and Australian chess Championship in 2016.
Wei Yi is a Chinese chess grandmaster.
Anton Kovalyov is a Ukrainian-born Canadian chess grandmaster.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov is an Uzbek chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he qualified for the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days. FIDE awarded him the title in April 2018.
The Chess World Cup 2017 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 2 to 27 September 2017. It was won by Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian. This was the second time he had won the Chess World Cup, 12 years after his first win in 2005. It was the 7th edition of the Chess World Cup.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he became an international master at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so, and a grandmaster at the age of 12, the second-youngest at the time to do so. On 22 February 2022, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player to defeat then-world champion Magnus Carlsen, when he beat Carlsen in a rapid game at the Airthings Masters Rapid Chess Tournament.
Daniel Cawdery is a South African chess player who was awarded the International Master title by FIDE in 2014.
Andrey Evgenyevich Esipenko is a Russian chess grandmaster. He won the European U10 Chess Championship in 2012, and both the European U16 and World U16 Chess Championship in 2017.
Daniel Anwuli is a Nigerian chess player. He was awarded the title International Master by FIDE in 2019.
Teodora Injac is a Serbian chess player. She was awarded the title of Woman Grandmaster in 2021 and the title of International Master in 2023.