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King in the making: Child chess prodigy plays his way off the streets

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">11-year-old Tanitoluwa “Tani” Adewumi has big dreams for his chess career, and has already made some big steps towards making them come true.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After he became a national chess master earlier this year - making him the 28th youngest person to claim the title - Tani now hopes to become the youngest ever grandmaster.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I’m aggressive, I like to attack,” he </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://7news.com.au/sunrise/entertainment/child-prodigy-rescues-his-family-from-a-homeless-shelter-by-playing-chess--c-4151705" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told</span></a> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">CNN Sport</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. “It’s just the way I think in general: I want to checkmate my opponent as fast as I can.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He would have to outperform the current record-holder, 12-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra, but Tani is working hard to get there.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844643/tani1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/cd6c1ac32b764e9c866e3c488bc95cf7" /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: GoFundMe</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As well as attending school in New York, Tani practices his chess moves for seven hours a day.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When he isn’t at school, the chess prodigy can put in between eight and 10 hours of practice a day.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though he has collected a suite of trophies, Tani considers one to be particularly special - the 2019 New York State chess championship title - because of the life-changing effect it had on his family.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“That’s the one that really boosted us up to become where we are today, and also me and my chess,” Tani said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nearly two years prior to the win, Tani and his family fled Northern Nigeria amidst fears of attacks by extremist group Boko Haram.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After arriving in the US, the family lived in a homeless shelter, while Tani joined the chess club at his school.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When the news came of his win, his family received a flood of financial support.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“One family, they paid for a year’s rent in Manhattan, one family gave us in 2019 a brand-new Honda, and the Saint Louis Chess Club in Missouri invited the family and the coaches to come and pay a visit,” Tani’s father, Kayode Adewumi, told </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">CNN Sport</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“A lot of people helped us, a lot of people gave us financial [support] and money … they donated money for us to get out from the shelter.”</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844644/tani2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/aa64769f6fbc4575a07179ce9eb793b4" /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: GoFundMe</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The family initially started a </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/w9t6p-just-tani" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">GoFundMe</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> page to help them cover housing, legal, and educational costs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Additional donations are being funnelled towards the Tanitoluwa Adewumi Foundation, which supports underprivileged children.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We need to give back to the needy, because we know what it takes - we’ve tasted everything,” Mr Adewumi said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“When we were in the shelter, some people are still there. We need to help the needy, especially the chess community and the people that need help. That’s why we put the money into the foundation, to help people.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Through the foundation, the family has also contributed money to a chess organisation in Africa with the hopes of encouraging more people to take up the game.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tani’s life has some common traits to that of the protagonist in the Netflix series </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Queen’s Gambit</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Tani said he has watched the series and that he “definitely did” see himself in it.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Chess is everything to me, it’s my life,” he said. “That’s how we came to where we are today.”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: GoFundMe</span></em></p>

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White first: Former chess rep slams ABC for racism discussion

<p>Former Australian chess representative John Adams has lashed out at the ABC as the public broadcaster’s radio show prepares a segment to discuss whether the popular board game is racist.</p> <p>Adams said he received a phone call from a Sydney-based ABC radio producer seeking his comment for James Valentine’s Wednesday afternoon program.</p> <p>The economist was asked whether the game was racist because white always moves first.</p> <p>“They are seeking comment from a chess official as to whether the rules of chess need to be altered!” Adams wrote on Twitter.</p> <p>“With all the drama resulting from COVID-19, I am amazed that the ABC is broadcasting on irrelevant topics!”</p> <p>He told the<em> Daily Telegraph</em>: “They said with everything going on, they wanted to have a conversation about white going first - and the racial context of whether white should go first.</p> <p>“People are struggling with the economy, with their health, with the lockdown. They don’t want their money wasted on bulls**t.”</p> <p>Chess expert Kevin Bonham, who is a part of the Australian Chess Federation council, said the rule is not as influential in the lower levels of the game.</p> <p>“The funny thing is that at social to even lower club level, having white or black makes zero difference to average results,” Bonham said.</p> <p>“The advantage starts kicking in around middling club level and becomes stronger at the highest levels.”</p> <p>The rule that white moves first became a convention in the late 1800s.</p> <p>White has been widely believed to have an inherent advantage, although some chess players dispute this view.</p> <p>In 2019, grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri played against the rule to make the player with the black pieces begin as a part of the United Nations’ campaign for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Today, we made a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MoveForEquality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MoveForEquality</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/anishgiri?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@anishgiri</a> and I broke a rule and black started instead of white. Through chess, we can give a new perspective to the worldwide discussion about how we can build a world where opportunity is equal. <a href="https://t.co/0rAuQH6uNK">pic.twitter.com/0rAuQH6uNK</a></p> — Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) <a href="https://twitter.com/MagnusCarlsen/status/1108662247860199424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>The Move For Equality said the rule was not established based on prejudice.</p> <p>“This campaign is merely a symbolic gesture to highlight what happens when you step away from the board, where a fair world is not a reality for many, and the dream of having perfect equality between races and people is still far from coming true.”</p>

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New York hustler unknowingly plays chess against a grandmaster

<p>The streets of New York are filled with trash talking street performers. One of the most quintessential Big Apple experiences you can have is nestled in a corner of New York City's Washington Square Park. Here, tourists go when they want to see what it's like to lose to a pro. Grandmaster Maurice Ashley isn’t just any tourist though.</p> <p>The Jamaica-born chess pro became the game's first black International Grandmaster back in 1999. His opponent doesn’t recognise him until the end of the video though, and even tries to cheat when things heat up! Nothing gets past this pro though…</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/01/footage-man-climbing-into-airport-xray/">Footage shows man climbing into airport X-ray scanner</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/02/dog-caught-sitting-in-plane-seat/">Dog caught casually sitting in plane seat</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/02/most-beautiful-churches-in-the-world/">10 beautiful churches you must see in person</a></em></strong></span></p>

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