An 8-year-old Nigerian immigrant named Tanitoluwa “Tani” Adewumi became a chess champion while experiencing poor housing conditions in New York. After living in shelters for years, Adewumi and his family have been granted asylum to stay in the U.S.
Remember Tani Adewumi, the Nigerian refugee kid I wrote about 2 years ago who won the NY State chess championship while in a homeless shelter? Now well housed (thanks to you readers!), he just won a championship and is officially a National Chess Master as a 10-yr-old 5th grader! pic.twitter.com/mbDCAGiFHb
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) May 2, 2021
According to The Washington Post, Adewumi and his family sought asylum in the U.S. after leaving their home in Nigeria. The family decided to escape the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram in 2017.
Despite a tumultuous journey, Adewumi poured his talents into the chess game. In the third grade, he competed and won the state championship against 73 other players in his age group. During his fifth-grade year, Adewuni became the youngest to secure the title of national chess master.
The first wind of viral attention that helped the young chess player gain asylum came after a chess win. A GoFundMe account created by his father received $257,179 in donations, surpassing the original goal of $50,000.
Tani is a reminder: Talent is universal, but opportunity is not. He was lucky that his homeless shelter was near a school with a chess program. It waived the chess club fees for him. He’s also a reminder that refugees enrich our country (I say that as the son of a refugee).
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) May 2, 2021
Adewumi was faced with being restricted from traveling for chess. Now, the family has asylum and can continue living in the U.S.
“It feels amazing because it’s been such a long journey,” Tani told The Washington Post. “I’m just grateful that we’ve gotten this opportunity,” he added.
Adewumi’s family applied for asylum in 2019 and fearfully waited for the verdict. In 2021, attorney Matthew Ingber learned about the family’s troubles and assembled a legal team to assist with their case.
“There is always risk associated with any trial,” Ingber said.
He also noted that deportation cases like these are “always a risk when you’re dealing in these types of asylum cases.”
“What we thought would be a better idea is to try to convince the government that this case really was open-and-shut, and there was no real question that our clients deserved asylum,” attorney Christopher Mikesh said.
“They’re active members of their church, of their community, of their school. They really are a paradigm case for granting asylum,” Ingber explained. “They are contributing in ways that should make us all feel very proud to have them as part of our country.”
The family had final approval for asylum in October and received their asylum cards on Nov. 30.
