Tani Adewumi, National Master at Age 10

Congratulations to Tanitoluwa "Tani" Adewumi, who broke the 2200 barrier this weekend at the Fairfield County Chess Club Championship tournament, becoming America's newest national master.

Tani sprung to national prominence in 2019 when Nicholas Kristof told the story of a homeless youth winning the New York State K-3 scholastic championship. Since then Tani's talent has continued to blossom through hard work. He has visited the Saint Louis Chess Club and become an author.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0cYd1ENDIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx8dLx6PYUs

Now he a national master at the age of ten years, seven months, and 28 days. Currently Tani is the 28th youngest person to make master according to US Chess records. IM Abhi Mishra, who just earned his second GM norm, holds that honor at nine years, two months, and 17 days. But Adewumi's master title was earned earlier than those of GM Fabiano Caruana (ten years, 11 months, 29 days), GM Ray Robson (11 years, two months, 28 days), and IM Carissa Yip (11 years, five months, 18 days).

Tani had to defeat two experts, a master, and an International Master on the way to his Club Champion title and his master rating. Three of the four games are available on the CCFC website. We provide them below.

[pgn][Event "CCFC Club Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.05.01"] [Round "1"] [White "Sarkar, Justin"] [Black "Adewumi, Tanitoluwa"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E73"] [WhiteElo "2466"] [BlackElo "2162"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "90"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.05.03"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Be3 d6 6. Be2 Nc6 7. Nf3 Ng4 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 e5 11. d5 Nd4 12. h4 f5 13. hxg5 f4 $6 ({Too aggressive. After} 13... hxg5 14. exf5 Bxf5 15. Nxd4 ({less convincing is} 15. Bd3 Qf6 $1) 15... exd4 16. Nb5 {the position is roughly equal.}) 14. Bh4 h5 15. Nh2 Qd7 16. Nf1 $1 a6 17. f3 Ne3 18. Nxe3 fxe3 19. Qd3 b5 20. Rc1 b4 21. Nd1 Qa4 22. Qb1 b3 23. axb3 Nxb3 24. Rc3 Rb8 25. Nxe3 Nd4 26. Bd1 Qb4 {[#] Thus far the veteran IM has outplayed the young phenom. White has a large advantage, but the pressure on the b2-pawn is a bit worrisome. How to proceed?} 27. O-O $4 { Perhaps Sarkar thought that a pawn and a knight would be enough for the rook, but now Black just has a winning position.} ({Simply unpinning before castling with} 27. Qd3 Qxb2 28. O-O {keeps White well ahead.}) 27... Qxc3 28. bxc3 Rxb1 29. cxd4 exd4 30. Nf5 Bxf5 31. exf5 Rxf5 32. Bc2 Rxf1+ 33. Kxf1 Re5 34. f4 Re3 35. f5 d3 36. Bd1 Bc3 37. f6 d2 38. Be2 Rd3 39. Bd1 Re3 40. Be2 a5 41. g6 a4 42. f7+ Kf8 43. Bg5 Rd3 44. Bd1 a3 45. Ke2 Rg3 0-1 [/pgn]

[pgn][Event "CCFC Club Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.05.01"] [Round "3"] [White "Moor, Nathaniel"] [Black "Adewumi, Tanitoluwa"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B41"] [WhiteElo "2199"] [BlackElo "2162"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "52"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.05.03"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. g3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bg2 Nf6 8. e5 $2 Qa5+ 9. Nc3 Qxe5+ 10. Be3 Bc5 11. Qd2 Ng4 12. Ne4 Bxe3 13. fxe3 d5 14. Bf3 Qxb2 15. O-O Ne5 16. Ng5 h6 17. Rfb1 hxg5 18. Be2 Qa3 19. Rb3 Qd6 20. e4 Qc5+ 21. Kg2 dxe4 22. Rd1 Bd7 23. Rb7 Rd8 24. Rb3 f6 25. a3 Kf7 26. Rb7 Rxh2+ 0-1 [/pgn]

[pgn][Event "CCFC Club Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.05.01"] [Round "4"] [White "Adewumi, Tanitoluwa"] [Black "Levin, Anthony"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2162"] [BlackElo "2110"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "61"] [SourceVersionDate "2021.05.03"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nde2 h5 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Ng3 g6 10. Bc4 Nbd7 11. Qf3 b5 12. Bb3 Bb7 13. O-O-O Rc8 14. Kb1 {[#]} O-O $5 15. Bh6 b4 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. Bxd5 Nxd5 (17... Nb6 $5 18. Bxf8 $140 $2 Bxf8 19. Bb7 Rc7 20. Bxa6 Qa8 $44) 18. Rxd5 Nb6 19. Rd3 Qc7 {Black has to keep the pressure up - there's no time to save the rook with} (19... Re8 20. Nxh5 { followed by Nh5-g7. If} gxh5 $2 21. Qg3+ {Black has to shed a lot of material just to avoid mate.}) 20. Rc1 Nc4 21. Nxh5 $1 ({Not} 21. Bxf8 Bg5 $1 {when Black has all the fun.}) 21... Kh7 22. Bxf8 {Now it's safe to grab the rook. White finishes things off nicely.} Bxf8 23. Nf6+ Kh8 24. Nd5 Qb7 25. Qf6+ Bg7 26. Qh4+ Kg8 27. Ne7+ Kf8 28. Nxc8 Qxc8 29. c3 Kg8 30. cxb4 Nd2+ 31. Rxd2 1-0 [/pgn]

How did Tani celebrate his tremendous accomplishment? He spent part of his Monday solving puzzles with GM Peter Svidler!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKiy1J1eO0Y

Congratulations to National Master Tani Adewumi from US Chess!