IT'S 9 P.M., and 8-year-old Tani Adewumi is wired, like he'd just swallowed a bag of sugar. He had played chess all day, but he wanted to play more, at least until midnight. The first day of the 2019 New York State Scholastic Chess Championship had just ended, and he finished with three wins in as many matches, surprising a former champion and two other seeded players. He was heading into Day 2 -- the final day of the tournament -- in the lead, and he wanted to keep up the momentum when he returned to the huge Airbnb he was sharing with his family, his coach and a few other coaches in Saratoga Springs.
From homeless refugee to chess prodigy, 9-year-old dreams of becoming youngest grandmaster
