1 . On March 10, 2019, eight-year-old Tanitoluwa "Tani” Adewumi beat 73 young competitors to win the New York State Chess Championship in his age category—kindergarten to third grade. While the _____ is great, what is even more amazing is that the boy ______ learning the game less than a year ago.

Tani and his family _______   in New York City from Nigeria in 2017. Soon after, Tani started to study at the ____ elementary school, P. S. 116, which is near his home. It was here that the young boy was first   _______ to the chess. ______ by the game, the boy begged his mother, Oluwatoyin, to allow him to _______ the school's chess club. Considering that the family would be unable to afford the ______, Oluwatoyin emailed chess   __________Russel Makofsky, who ran the club. To her surprise and ______, Makofsky agreed to charge young Tani nothing.The young boy made up his mind to practice harder in return for his _______ He has won seven important prizes in less than a year, and ______ #27 in America in his age category.

_______the chess club certainly helps, Tani's success can be largely owed to (归功于)his _____ to the game. The chess player _____ the game for several hours a day. Every Saturday, Tani and his mother ______ to Harlem for a free 3-hour class to help further sharpen his game skills.

He is now busy ________ the National Elementary Championships, which will be held in Nashville, TN. Winning the ________ will bring the chess player closer to his dream of becoming the world's ______ chess grand master (大师). The record is now held by Russian chess player Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, who won the title in 2002 at the age of 12 years. We have no ___ that the determined boy will achieve his goal soon!