The kid who believes in miracles
Only three years ago, Tani Adewumi’s family was still living in a New York City homeless shelter. A story published on March 16, 2019 in the New York Times turned their lives around.
At 8, Tani had just won the New York State Scholastic Chess Championship in his age group with a 5½/6 score. Impressively, the boy performed that well only a year after having learned the rules of the game. A GoFundMe campaign was set up for the family by Russel Makofsky, who oversaw the chess program at Tani’s elementary school, raising over $200,000 in a few days’ time.
Tani’s parents are devout Christians and decided to donate part of the money raised to the church that helped them out when they arrived to the United States. They also created a foundation to assist struggling African immigrants.
Since then, the ever-smiling boy has become a household name in the chess world. Besides being invited to visit Bill Clinton at his office in Harlem, Tani has played several blitz games against Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, and has been part of the Kasparov Chess Foundation’s Young Stars program.
Now, at 11, Tani has earned his first IM norm at the New York Spring Invitational.
[Photo: Tanitoluwa Adewumi’s Twitter profile]
Tani scores 7/9, gains 127 rating points
Four parallel tournaments were organized in New York City on April 14-18. In the top event, including three GMs, IM Jason Lian grabbed a grandmaster norm, while Maximillian Lu, Bach Ngo and Tanitoluwa Adewuni obtained IM norms in the three remaining round-robin tournaments.
Lu was the third seed in the IM-B event and Ngo was the fourth highest-rated player in the IM-C event, while Tani was only seventh in the IM-D 10-player tournament. The 11-year-old nonetheless scored 7 out of 9 to get the coveted norm, finishing undefeated and gaining no less than 127.6 rating points. A remarkable performance by an impressively quick learner!
In round 4, Tani defeated FM Aaron Jacobson with the white pieces. Black was worse out of the opening, and by move 27, forcing tactics favouring White began to appear on the board.
Adewumi vs. Jacobson - Round 4
Tani found 26.d5 Rxd5 27.Bxa7, not fearing 27...b6 since after 28.Rxd5 Qxd5 another pawn push allowed him to keep his material edge — 29.e6
The rest was easy for the teenager, who thus grabbed his fourth consecutive win. It will certainly be a memorable tournament for the Nigerian-American rising star!
Final standings - IM D
1 |
7 |
|
GM |
PARAGUA Mark |
|
2460 |
7,0 |
0,5 |
5 |
26,75 |
2427 |
9 |
7 |
7,12 |
-0,12 |
10 |
-1,2 |
2 |
8 |
|
FM |
ADEWUMI Tanitoluwa |
|
2177 |
7,0 |
0,5 |
5 |
26,50 |
2458 |
9 |
7 |
3,81 |
3,19 |
40 |
127,6 |
3 |
10 |
|
|
WANG Eigen |
|
2242 |
6,0 |
0,0 |
5 |
24,50 |
2356 |
9 |
6 |
4,63 |
1,37 |
20 |
27,4 |
4 |
6 |
|
FM |
JACOBSON Aaron |
|
2263 |
5,5 |
0,0 |
5 |
20,00 |
2309 |
9 |
5,5 |
4,90 |
0,60 |
20 |
12,0 |
5 |
1 |
|
IM |
SAVANOVIC Aleksandar |
|
2387 |
5,0 |
0,5 |
3 |
17,50 |
2258 |
9 |
5 |
6,40 |
-1,40 |
10 |
-14,0 |
6 |
2 |
|
IM |
CSONKA Attila Istvan |
|
2339 |
5,0 |
0,5 |
2 |
18,75 |
2263 |
9 |
5 |
5,82 |
-0,82 |
10 |
-8,2 |
7 |
4 |
|
WGM |
CERVANTES LANDEIRO Thalia |
|
2206 |
3,5 |
0,0 |
3 |
8,50 |
2155 |
9 |
3,5 |
4,17 |
-0,67 |
20 |
-13,4 |
8 |
9 |
|
|
YANG Qindong |
|
2126 |
3,0 |
0,0 |
2 |
12,00 |
2119 |
9 |
3 |
3,19 |
-0,19 |
20 |
-3,8 |
9 |
3 |
|
|
ESPINOSA Pedro |
|
2129 |
1,5 |
0,5 |
1 |
6,75 |
1971 |
9 |
1,5 |
3,20 |
-1,70 |
40 |
-68,0 |
10 |
5 |
|
|
DANS Dwight |
|
1992 |
1,5 |
0,5 |
1 |
3,75 |
1986 |
9 |
1,5 |
1,76 |
-0,26 |
20 |
-5,2 |
All games
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Be2 Qe7 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 Nxf6 13.Kh1 Bb4 14.Bd3 e5 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.fxe5 Qxe5 17.Bd4 Qh5 18.Bxf6 Bd6 19.g4 Bxg4 20.Bd4 Rf3 21.Bg1 Raf8 22.Rae1 Bg3 23.Bc5 Bxe1 24.Rxe1 Rxd3 25.cxd3 Bf3+ 26.Kg1 Qg4+ 27.Kf2 Qg2+ 28.Ke3 Qg5+ 0–1
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SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | WANG,E | 2242 | 0–1 | 2022 | C11 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 1 |
CSONKA,A | 2339 | YANG,Q | 2126 | ½–½ | 2022 | B53 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 1 |
ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | 0–1 | 2022 | E18 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 1 |
CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | PARAGUA,M | 2460 | 0–1 | 2022 | E81 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 1 |
DANS,D | 1992 | JACOBSON,A | 2263 | 0–1 | 2022 | A13 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 1 |
WANG,E | 2242 | JACOBSON,A | 2263 | 1–0 | 2022 | A61 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 2 |
PARAGUA,M | 2460 | DANS,D | 1992 | 1–0 | 2022 | C00 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 2 |
ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | 1–0 | 2022 | C54 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 2 |
YANG,Q | 2126 | ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | 1–0 | 2022 | D11 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 2 |
SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | CSONKA,A | 2339 | ½–½ | 2022 | B47 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 2 |
CSONKA,A | 2339 | WANG,E | 2242 | ½–½ | 2022 | C06 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 3 |
ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | 0–1 | 2022 | E11 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 3 |
CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | YANG,Q | 2126 | 1–0 | 2022 | E14 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 3 |
DANS,D | 1992 | ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | 0–1 | 2022 | A25 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 3 |
JACOBSON,A | 2263 | PARAGUA,M | 2460 | ½–½ | 2022 | B47 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 3 |
WANG,E | 2242 | PARAGUA,M | 2460 | 0–1 | 2022 | A61 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 4 |
ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | JACOBSON,A | 2263 | 1–0 | 2022 | C54 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 4 |
YANG,Q | 2126 | DANS,D | 1992 | 0–1 | 2022 | E73 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 4 |
SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | 1–0 | 2022 | C67 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 4 |
CSONKA,A | 2339 | ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | 1–0 | 2022 | B53 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 4 |
ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | WANG,E | 2242 | 1–0 | 2022 | C10 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 5 |
CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | CSONKA,A | 2339 | ½–½ | 2022 | E15 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 5 |
DANS,D | 1992 | SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | 0–1 | 2022 | E11 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 5 |
JACOBSON,A | 2263 | YANG,Q | 2126 | 0–1 | 2022 | B96 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 5 |
PARAGUA,M | 2460 | ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | ½–½ | 2022 | B40 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 5 |
WANG,E | 2242 | ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | ½–½ | 2022 | E12 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 6 |
YANG,Q | 2126 | PARAGUA,M | 2460 | 0–1 | 2022 | E68 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 6 |
SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | JACOBSON,A | 2263 | 0–1 | 2022 | C18 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 6 |
CSONKA,A | 2339 | DANS,D | 1992 | 1–0 | 2022 | B53 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 6 |
ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | 0–1 | 2022 | D00 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 6 |
CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | WANG,E | 2242 | 0–1 | 2022 | A58 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 7 |
DANS,D | 1992 | ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | ½–½ | 2022 | A12 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 7 |
JACOBSON,A | 2263 | CSONKA,A | 2339 | 1–0 | 2022 | E15 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 7 |
PARAGUA,M | 2460 | SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | ½–½ | 2022 | C26 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 7 |
ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | YANG,Q | 2126 | 1–0 | 2022 | B51 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 7 |
WANG,E | 2242 | YANG,Q | 2126 | 1–0 | 2022 | D02 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 8 |
SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | ½–½ | 2022 | B85 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 8 |
CSONKA,A | 2339 | PARAGUA,M | 2460 | ½–½ | 2022 | B53 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 8 |
ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | JACOBSON,A | 2263 | 0–1 | 2022 | D45 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 8 |
CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | DANS,D | 1992 | 1–0 | 2022 | E76 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 8 |
DANS,D | 1992 | WANG,E | 2242 | 0–1 | 2022 | C03 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 9 |
JACOBSON,A | 2263 | CERVANTES LANDEIRO,T | 2206 | 1–0 | 2022 | D26 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 9 |
PARAGUA,M | 2460 | ESPINOSA,P | 2129 | 1–0 | 2022 | B53 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 9 |
ADEWUMI,T | 2177 | CSONKA,A | 2339 | ½–½ | 2022 | B13 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 9 |
YANG,Q | 2126 | SAVANOVIC,A | 2387 | ½–½ | 2022 | E17 | 2022 New York Spring Invitational IM D | 9 |
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