Room and Chess Board

“Tanitoluwa Adewumi, age 8, skidded around the empty apartment, laughing excitedly, then leapt onto his dad’s back. “I have a home!” he said in wonderment. ‘I have a home!’ A week ago, the boy was homeless, studying chess moves while lying on the floor of a shelter in Manhattan. Now Tani, as he is known, has a home, a six-figure bank account, scholarship offers from three elite private schools and an invitation to meet President Bill Clinton.” Nicholas Kristoff in the NYT: The 8-year-old refugee who last week was thrilled to have a trophy suddenly has so much more. Our Chess Champion Has a Home.

+ “This heart-warming tale is also a quintessentially American one. Despite his family’s conditions, Tani learned to play at a good chess program in an excellent Manhattan public school. His mother took the initiative of getting him into the school chess club, reminding any true chess fan of a similar letter written by the mother of future U.S. world champion Bobby Fischer. (All praise to assertive chess mothers like my own!)” Garry Kasparov in WaPo: The heart-warming tale of the 8-year-old chess champion is quintessentially American.