Homeless 8-Year-Old Is NY Chess Champion

I love the game of chess and I like to think I'm pretty decent at it. I'm not great but I can hold my own. When I look back at life, I was WAY better in High School and growing up but I also didn't really have much to worry about. I had a great family, nice home to live in and not really much else to worry about. 

Think back to your childhood and imagine if you were homeless at the age of 8, how hard it would be. Now imagine that you are a refugee in America at 8 years old and have nowhere to live. That's exactly the situation with New York's newest chess champion. His name is Tanitoluwa Adewumi and he goes by the name of Tani. He's a refugee from Nigeria. 

Tani learned to play chess just over a year ago and practices every Saturday and when he can during the week on his father's laptop, according to an article in the New York Times. He competed in the New York State Chess Championship with mostly private school kids and won the whole event in the Kindergarten to third-grade category. Tani told the Times' Nicholas Kristof that he wants to be the youngest grandmaster chess player and I think he's well on his way.

You can check out the Times' full story about Tani HERE.

People magazine wrote about a GoFundMe campaign established for Tani's family. As of this writing, the campaign has raised nearly $200,000 in five days.