Former American President, Bill Clinton has asked to meet kid chess champion, Nigerian refugee, Tanitoluwa Adewumi after he emerged Chess champion.
\nSaid Clinton in a tweet: “Refugees enrich our nation and talent is universal, even if opportunity is not.\u201d
\n“This story made me smile. Tanitoluwa, you exemplify a winning spirit \u2013 in chess and in life. And kudos to your hardworking parents. You all should stop by my office in Harlem; I’d love to meet you.”
\nAccording to a USAToday report, Nigerian refugee, Tanitoluwa Adewumi, 8, took first place in the New York State Scholastic Championships tournament.
\nThe report, updated on Tuesday, read: An 8-year-old living in a homeless shelter has won the New York State chess championship for his age bracket.
\n\u201cI want to be the youngest grandmaster,\u201d Tanitoluwa Adewumi, a Nigerian refugee who goes by Tani, told\u00a0The New York Times.
\nTanitoluwa placed first in the\u00a0New York State Scholastic Championships tournament\u00a0for\u00a0kindergarten through third grade\u00a0\u2014 a remarkable win for anyone.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s unheard of for any kid, let alone one in a homeless shelter,\u201d\u00a0Russell Makofsky, who oversees Manhattan’s P.S. 116 chess program, told USA TODAY.
\nTanitoluwa hasn’t had an easy life. His family left northern Nigeria in 2017 fearing attacks on Christians, The New York Times reports, and moved to New York City over a year ago where the boy learned how to play chess at school. He and his\u00a0family live\u00a0in a homeless shelter.
\nSchool chess coach Shawn Martinez saw Tanitoluwa’s potential after observing him excel in the game a few weeks after first learning\u00a0it early last year.
\nHe reached out to\u00a0Tanitoluwa’s family about joining the school’s chess program, and learned they were unable to pay costs associated with membership. Makofsky decided to waive Tanitoluwa’s fees, which can easily exceed\u00a0thousands\u00a0with\u00a0travel and chess camp admissions.
\nA student gifted\u00a0Tanitoluwa a chess clock.\u00a0Tanitoluwa’s mother took him to free regular\u00a0three-hour practice sessions in Harlem. His dad lets him use a laptop to play chess online.
\nSeven trophies later, the elementary school boy is one of the top players in the country for his age group.
\n“He works very hard at his game,”\u00a0Martinez said, estimating\u00a0Tanitoluwa could achieve master status “in the next year or two.” The world’s youngest grandmaster qualified at the age of 12.
\nAs Tanitoluwa’s story hits national headlines, more people want to help.
\nMakofsky, who set up a\u00a0GoFundMefor\u00a0Tanitoluwa, said the family has received offers for a car, legal services, jobs and even housing.
\n“My hope is that he’ll be in a home tonight,”\u00a0Makofsky said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former American President, Bill Clinton has asked to meet kid chess champion, Nigerian refugee, Tanitoluwa Adewumi after he emerged Chess champion. Said Clinton in a tweet: “Refugees enrich our nation and talent is universal, even if opportunity is not.\u201d “This story made me smile. Tanitoluwa, you exemplify a winning spirit \u2013 in chess and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}