An African Giant 8-year-old Tanitoluwa Adewumi is the new world chess champion in the US.
Tanitoluwa Adewumi was just your average little boy until he and his family were forced to flee their home in Nigeria due to terrorist attacks. They narrowly escaped with their lives, and Tanitoluwa was determined not to let the terrorists win.
So he started practicing chess. And practicing. And practicing some more.
It wasn’t easy – living in a refugee camp is never easy – but Tanitoluwa was driven to be the best. And it paid off: in only a few short years, Tanitoluwa had become one of the top chess players in the world, surprising everyone with his skills.
In fact, he had just won the New York State Chess Championship! Tani won the top prize in his age category at the New York game. This amazing 8-year old Tani Adewumi also aspires to become the youngest chess grandmaster in the world. “I want to be the youngest grandmaster,” Tanitoluwa told Nicholas Kristof, Opinion Columnis, The New York Times
Report has it that Adewumi was introduced to playing chess in class. Also, how the web helped him prepare for the Chess game through practicing on various chess playing sites. He was most attracted to the part of the game that challenges the mind to critical thinking.
Africans are extraordinarily talented. Imagine the remarkable journey of Tani and his family of four which includes his brother who fled northern Nigeria with his family in 2017, and started playing the game of chess a year later in 2018. The family has been leaving in a homeless shelter in Manhattan, United States.
The clever, 8-year-old learned chess within a year yet outsmarted children from elite private schools with private chess tutors at the state tournament.
The Adewumi’s had no idea what the future held for them when they fled Nigeria, but what they knew was that they needed to seek safety first. However, the world witnessed that Tanitoluwa’s success didn’t come easy. He and his family were living in a homeless shelter awaiting their request for asylum to be processed. But Tanitoluwa never let any of this get him down; he just kept practicing chess whenever he could.
Russell Makofsky, who oversees the P.S. 116 chess program, waived the fees, and a year ago the boy took part in his first tournament with the lowest rating of any participant, 105. His rating is now 1587 and rising fast. (By comparison, the world’s best player, Magnus Carlsen, stands at 2845.)”
