A 12-year-old chess prodigy and his family were granted asylum in America.
Tanitoluwa “Tani” Adewumi and his family, who escaped Nigeria for New York, were given their asylum cards, enabling the young prodigy to continue competing in chess tournaments and traveling.
“It feels amazing because it’s been such a long journey,” Adewumi told the Washington Post. “I’m grateful that we’ve gotten this opportunity.”
The family received asylum on Nov 30
As reported by News Onyx, Adewumi and his family fled Nigeria out of fear of an extremist group called Boko Haram. They came to New York City homeless and had to live in Manhattan homeless shelters. Adewumi took the time to learn the game of chess amid staying in the shelters, joining a public school chess club, and becoming great at it. Eventually, the prodigy would steal national attention beating 73 players in his age group during state championships and receiving a player score of 1587. At 11, he became the youngest chess grandmaster.
He also became an International Chess Federation (FIDE) master in 2021.
“We thank God for his mercy and the people of America for their kindness,” Kayode Adewumi, the prodigy’s father, told CBS.
Despite the hardships, the family pushed to find a way to earn money to help with their living expenses and to support the chess master’s journey. One way was through a GoFundMe campaign that Kayode created in 2019, which gained much attention due to the New York Times.
“Tani’s story has touched so many, inspired us to be better, to love more, to try harder, and has tapped into the good that exists in all of us,” Kayode wrote. “God has shown himself through Tani and his story. God is alive and is at work.”
Christopher Mikesh is an attorney who worked on the family’s asylum case and told the Washington Post that it was not just about Adewumi but also about “a family who came to the United States with very little and did everything they possibly could to make a life for themselves here.”
