8 year old homeless Nigerian refugee becomes chess champion

(New York, NY)

Tanitoluwa Adewumi may live in a Manhattan homeless shelter, but that didn’t stop the third grader from winning the New York State chess championship. Tanitoluwa, a Nigerian refugee, learned how to play chess just over a year ago. What happened since then? He’s won 7 trophies, which sit by his bed in the shelter. This past weekend, Tani, which is what he goes by, was undefeated at the state tournament.

Tani, his parents and older brother arrived in NYC after fleeing Nigeria in 2017. It was at PS 116 that Tani learned how to play chess. After his story was published in the NY Times a few days ago, readers reached out asking how they can help Tani and his family. A go fund me was created and in just 5 days, almost $200,000 has been raised. The goal was only $50k, looks like Tani’s story of perseverance really touched peoples hearts.