Michelle Obama celebrates 10-year-old Nigerian-US chess master

Tanitoluwa “Tani” Adewumi burst onto the scene in 2019 at just 8-years-old, a Nigerian refugee who won the New York State K-3 scholastic chess championship while living in a homeless shelter

Tani broke the 2200 barrier at the Fairfield County Chess Club Championship tournament, defeating two experts, a master, and an International Master, to become the national master

Former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has applauded Tanitoluwa Adewumi for recently becoming one of the youngest chess masters in US history.

She made this known in her official Facebook post in reaction to an opinion article by Nicholas Kristof published last Saturday in New York Times, titled ‘Remember the homeless chess champion? The boy is now a chess master.’

“A lot of people might have written Tani Adewumi off.

"His family came here as refugees after fleeing Boko Haram. Not too long ago, they were experiencing homelessness,” Obama said.