Adewunmi Tanitoluwa has been in the news since last week, first in New York where he emerged the youngest winner of the city’s chess tourney, and then across the world ravished by the genius of this migrant.
But there a couple things many Nigerians have yet to know about this kid: where he cones from, and what awaits him in the land of dreams he, his brother, father, and mother float now.
- Tani is an immigrant in the US—he’s been since 2016 when his father Adewunmi and his family fled Nigeria for dear lives. This family of four is now facing possibility of being flung back to Nigeria considering how America under President Donald Trump goes about its immigration policy.
- Tani and his family are living in a Manhattan homeless people’s home where the chess whizkid lies on the floor hours every evening to practise on his dad’s laptop.
- Tani is a third-grader who took interest in chess just a year ago, but his rating now is 1567 compared to the world’s best chess player Magnus Carsel’s 2845
- Tani’s father is a Uber driver and licensed estate salesman
- Tani’s mother Toyin just completed a health-aide programme