Can you play chess in English? - Free English Activity

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Hugging two shiny silver trophies, 10-year-old Tanitoluwa («Tani») Adewumi smiled proudly over his latest accomplishment: becoming a US national chess master! Serious chess players can compete for years trying to earn a «master» title, but Adewumi had been playing chess for only about three years when he won the title.

Adewumi, now 11, was born in Nigeria. In 2017, he and his family came as refugees to New York, USA. Having nowhere to go, they lived in a homeless shelter. Adewumi enrolled in elementary school, and that’s when his chess journey kicked off.

In school, a teacher taught Adewumi how to play chess. Adewumi really enjoyed the game and wanted to get into the school chess club, but his family couldn’t afford it. When the coaches learned about Adewumi’s situation, they waived the club’s $330 fee. Shawn Martinez, Adewumi’s coach, says he saw the boy’s potential right away. «He has an incredible memory and he’s very interested in what he’s learning.»

Adewumi practiced chess for hours in the evenings at the shelter. He also began competing – and winning trophies. Then, less than a year after he learned to play, Adewumi took down 73 other players to win the New York State chesschampionship! Winning the championship would change the lives of Adewumi and his family forever.

After the state championship, Adewumi’s coaches set up an online campaign to raise money for his family. Then, there was an article about Adewumi in the New York Times. People all over the world heard his inspiring story. Eventually, the campaign raised more than $250,000 dollars! There was even one donor who decided to pay the family’s rent for a year on a two-bedroom apartment. This allowed the chess champion and his family to finally move out of the homeless shelter.

Today, Adewumi practices every day after school for about 10 hours. He also studies books about famous chess masters, and plays chess online. When Adewumi loses, he takes it in stride, and learns from his mistakes. «I say to myself that I never lose, that I only learn.»

What is Merriam-Webster?

It is the authority. Born in West Hartford, Connecticut in 1758, Noah Webster came of age during the American Revolution and was a strong advocate of the Constitutional Convention. He believed fervently in the developing cultural independence of the United States, a chief part of which was to be a distinctive American language with its own idiom, pronunciation, and style.

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