Oluwafemi Daniel Balogun (born 1987) is a Nigerian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player.

Chess career

In 2016, Balogun won the Africa Zone 4.4 Individual Championship, and as a result he was awarded the title

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. The following year, Balogun won this event for the second time and qualified to play in the

Chess World Cup The FIDE World Cup is a major chess event organized by FIDE, the international governing body. History Three different formats have been used: *In 2000 and 2002, it was a multi-stage tournament, with a group stage consisting of 24 players in fo ...

, held later in the same year in

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

, Georgia. He was also granted the title

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

for this victory. In the

Chess World Cup 2017 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 ye ...

, Balogun was defeated by World Champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

in the first round, becoming the first African to play against a reigning world champion in a competitive match. In 2021 he won the Nigerian chess championships. In the

Chess World Cup 2023 The Chess World Cup 2023 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 30 July to 24 August 2023. It was the 10th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner, runner-up and third-place finisher of t ...

, he was defeated by

Alexandr Predke Alexandr Aleksandrovich Predke (, ; born 5 January 1994) is a Russian-born Serbian chess grandmaster (2016). Biography Predke started playing chess at the age of seven. He is an alumnus of the Tolyatti chess school. In 2010, he won the Russi ...

in the first round.

References

External links

* * 1987 births Living people Chess International Masters Nigerian chess players Date of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Owerri {{Chess-bio-stub