A second IM norm for Tani Adewumi!

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
7/13/2022 – The quick ascent of Tani Adewumi continues. The likeable Nigerian boy who made the news three years ago while still living in a homeless shelter has collected his second IM norm in New York. Tani is only 11 years old, but has already shown a fierce playing style and a solid work ethic. These factors bode well for his chances to become an elite player in the future. | Photos: Tani’s Twitter account (second norm on the left)
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One norm to go

Less than three months ago, Tanitoluwa Adewumi clinched his first International Master norm at the New York Spring Invitational. Come summer, the 11-year-old grabbed his second norm in the same series of events in the Big Apple. Tani scored 7/9 points to become the outright winner of the New York Summer IM-C tournament.

The life of Tani’s family suddenly took a turn for the better when Nicholas Kristof wrote a column for the New York Times in March 2019. Kristof picked up the story of Tani, who at 8 won the New York State Scholastic Chess Championship in his age group. The family of Nigerian immigrants was living in a homeless shelter at the time.

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.

Tanitoluwa Adewumi

Devout Christians — Tani with his family

Not a fluke

When Tani grabbed his first IM norm in April, he had entered the tournament with a 2177 Elo rating. His 7/9 score was enough to clinch shared first place, and gained him no less than 127.6 rating points.

At the summer tournament which saw him collect his second norm, Tani also scored 7/9, but this time around he entered the event as the third seed. The 11-year-old’s performance proved that his previous showing had not been a fluke. With a 2448 TPR (only 10 points short of his TPR in April), the Nigerian-American star added 33 more points to his FIDE rating.

Tani started strong, collecting three straight wins in the first three rounds of the event. In round 2, he defeated second seed Levy Rozman, a.k.a. GothamChess, one of the most popular chess streamers in the world. Tani showed a combination of positional understanding and excellent tactical vision to get the full point.

 

Final standings - IM C

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Adewumi Tanitoluwa 7,0 0,0
2 Nakada Akira 6,5 0,0
3 Bortnyk Mykola 6,0 0,0
4 Rozman Levy 4,5 3,0
5 Huston Gus 4,5 2,0
6 Martin Del Campo Roberto 4,5 2,0
7 Poliannikov Danila 4,5 1,5
8 Hardaway Brewington 4,5 1,5
9 Asavasaetakul Chawit 2,5 0,0
10 Le Nguyen Khoi Nguyen 0,5 0,0

All games

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.d4 1:31:00 Nf6 1:31:00 2.Nf3 30 e6 30 3.c4 30 d5 30 4.g3 30 Be7 30 5.Bg2 30 0-0 30 6.0-0 30 Nbd7 30 7.Qc2 30 c6 30 8.Nbd2 30 b6 30 9.e4 30 Bb7 30 10.e5 30 Ne8 30 11.cxd5 30 cxd5 30 12.Nb1 30 E09: Closed Catalan: Main Line: 7 Qc2 c6 8 Nbd2. b5 30
13.h4N 30 Predecessor: 13.a3 a5 14.Nc3 b4 15.axb4 axb4 16.Rxa8 Qxa8 17.Ne2 Ba6 18.Re1 Qb7 19.b3 Bxe2 20.Qxe2 ½-½ (32) Kalaiyalahan,A (2288)-Mitra,R (2073) Bournemouth 2016 13...Qc7 30 14.Qb3 30 White is slightly better. Qc4 30 15.Nbd2 30 White should try 15.Bg5± Bxg5 16.hxg5 15...Qxb3 30 15...Qc6= keeps the balance. 16.Nxb3± 30 a5 30 17.Bg5 30 f6 30 18.exf6 30 gxf6 30 19.Bh6 30 Ng7 30 20.Rfe1 30 Rfe8 30 21.Bxg7 White is more active. Kxg7 22.Rxe6 a4 23.Nc1       Weaker is 23.Rae1 axb3 24.axb3 24.Rxe7+ Rxe7 25.Rxe7+ Kf8 24...Kf7 23...Bf8 1:30 24.Rxe8 2:00 Rxe8 30 25.Nd3 30 Bd6 30 26.Bh3 30 Nb6 30 27.Nc5 30 Bc8 30 28.Bf1 30 b4 30 29.Bb5 30 Re7 30 30.Nxa4 30 Nxa4 30 31.Bxa4 30 Re2 30 32.Bb3 30 Rxb2 30 33.Bxd5 30 Bg4 30 34.Kg2 30 Bc7 30 35.Re1 30 Black must now prevent Re7+. Kf8 30 Inhibits Re7. 36.Re4 30 h5 30 37.Nh2 30 Bf5 30
37...Bd7 38.Nf1 Bb8 38.Re3! 30 And now Rf3 would win. Bd8 30 39.a3 30 Bc2 30 40.axb4 30 Rxb4 30 41.Be4 30 Bd1 30 42.d5 30       Bb6 30 43.Re1 30 Bb3 30 44.Bf3 30 Bc4 30 45.Nf1 30 Rb5 30 46.d6 30 Hoping for d7. Bxf1+ 30 46...Rb2 was worth a try. 47.Rxf1+- 30       Endgame KRB-KRB Kf7 30 48.Rd1 30 Rb2? 30 48...Ke6 49.d7 Ke7 49.Bxh5+ 30 Ke6 30 50.d7 30 Rxf2+ 30 51.Kh3 30 Bd8 30 52.Be8 30 h5 is the strong threat. f5 30 52...Rf5 53.Bg6 Re5 53.h5 30       f4 30 54.h6 30 fxg3 30 55.Re1+ 30 Kf5 30 56.Kxg3 30 White mates. Rd2 30 57.h7 30 Bc7+ 30 58.Kf3 30 Rh2 30 59.Rc1 30 Bd8 30
60.Bh5! 30       Weighted Error Value: White=0.17 (very precise) /Black=0.43 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bortnyk,M2463Huston,G22821–02022E09New York Summer IM-C 20221.1
Le,N2001Poliannikov,D23090–12022C52New York Summer IM-C 20221.2
Hardaway,B2175Rozman,L23332022B12New York Summer IM-C 20221.3
Adewumi,T2309Asavasaetakul,C19481–02022B13New York Summer IM-C 20221.4
Nakada,A2297Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R22451–02022A34New York Summer IM-C 20221.5
Huston,G2282Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R22450–12022B52New York Summer IM-C 20222.1
Asavasaetakul,C1948Nakada,A22970–12022B13New York Summer IM-C 20222.2
Rozman,L2333Adewumi,T23090–12022B44New York Summer IM-C 20222.3
Poliannikov,D2309Hardaway,B2175½–½2022C42New York Summer IM-C 20222.4
Bortnyk,M2463Le,N20011–02022D35New York Summer IM-C 20222.5
Le,N2001Huston,G22820–12022C88New York Summer IM-C 20223.1
Hardaway,B2175Bortnyk,M24631–02022B08New York Summer IM-C 20223.2
Adewumi,T2309Poliannikov,D23091–02022A65New York Summer IM-C 20223.3
Nakada,A2297Rozman,L23331–02022A28New York Summer IM-C 20223.4
Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R2245Asavasaetakul,C1948½–½2022B13New York Summer IM-C 20223.5
Huston,G2282Asavasaetakul,C19481–02022B19New York Summer IM-C 20224.1
Rozman,L2333Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R22451–02022A45New York Summer IM-C 20224.2
Poliannikov,D2309Nakada,A2297½–½2022B11New York Summer IM-C 20224.3
Bortnyk,M2463Adewumi,T2309½–½2022B22New York Summer IM-C 20224.4
Le,N2001Hardaway,B2175½–½2022B41New York Summer IM-C 20224.5
Hardaway,B2175Huston,G22820–12022C50New York Summer IM-C 20225.1
Adewumi,T2309Le,N20011–02022B51New York Summer IM-C 20225.2
Nakada,A2297Bortnyk,M2463½–½2022D45New York Summer IM-C 20225.3
Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R2245Poliannikov,D23091–02022C81New York Summer IM-C 20225.4
Asavasaetakul,C1948Rozman,L2333½–½2022D02New York Summer IM-C 20225.5
Huston,G2282Rozman,L23331–02022C07New York Summer IM-C 20226.1
Poliannikov,D2309Asavasaetakul,C19481–02022B15New York Summer IM-C 20226.2
Bortnyk,M2463Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R2245½–½2022A48New York Summer IM-C 20226.3
Le,N2001Nakada,A22970–12022B12New York Summer IM-C 20226.4
Hardaway,B2175Adewumi,T2309½–½2022B48New York Summer IM-C 20226.5
Adewumi,T2309Huston,G2282½–½2022C54New York Summer IM-C 20227.1
Nakada,A2297Hardaway,B2175½–½2022D32New York Summer IM-C 20227.2
Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R2245Le,N20011–02022B99New York Summer IM-C 20227.3
Asavasaetakul,C1948Bortnyk,M24630–12022A47New York Summer IM-C 20227.4
Rozman,L2333Poliannikov,D23091–02022A34New York Summer IM-C 20227.5
Huston,G2282Poliannikov,D23090–12022C47New York Summer IM-C 20228.1
Bortnyk,M2463Rozman,L23331–02022E04New York Summer IM-C 20228.2
Le,N2001Asavasaetakul,C19480–12022B12New York Summer IM-C 20228.3
Hardaway,B2175Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R22451–02022B92New York Summer IM-C 20228.4
Adewumi,T2309Nakada,A22971–02022B13New York Summer IM-C 20228.5
Nakada,A2297Huston,G22821–02022D41New York Summer IM-C 20229.1
Martin Del Campo Cardenas,R2245Adewumi,T2309½–½2022New York Summer IM-C 20229.2
Asavasaetakul,C1948Hardaway,B2175½–½2022D02New York Summer IM-C 20229.3
Rozman,L2333Le,N20011–02022A28New York Summer IM-C 20229.4
Poliannikov,D2309Bortnyk,M2463½–½2022B04New York Summer IM-C 20229.5

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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