New York: Nigerian Chess Champion Sets New World Record With 60-hour.
In Times Square, New York, Tunde Onakoya Made History By Breaking World Chess Record To Raise Fund For One Million African Children's Education.
In an effort to raise money for impoverished children in Africa, Nigerian Tunde Onakoya broke the record for the longest chess marathon by going undefeated for almost 58 hours in Times Square. Onakoya, 29, started his marathon session on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. When he eventually exceeded the 58 hour mark to 60 hours on Friday night in front of a cheering audience, he was clearly distraught.
In 2018, Onakoya, started the chess in Slums project.
“I can’t process a lot of the emotions I feel right now. I don’t have the right words for them. But I know we did something truly remarkable,” he told the Press. “At three am last night, that was the moment I was ready to just give it all up, but Nigerians traveled from all over the world. And they were with me overnight,” he continued. “We were singing together and they were dancing together and I couldn’t just give up on them.”
56 hours of play had been the previous record.
Tunde Onakoya with his fans cheering him up.
In 2018, Onakoya who is well-known in Nigeria started the chess in Slums project in Ikorodu, a neighborhood outside of Lagos. The group provides a chess learning space to marginalized youth, many of whom labor to support their families and are not enrolled in school. Onakoya was praised by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in a statement for “setting a new world chess record and sounding the gong of Nigeria’s resilience, self-belief, and ingenuity.”
Praised by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, Onakoya had “shown a streak customary among Nigeria’s youth population, the audacity to make good change happen… even from corners of disadvantage.” Onakoya wants to raise $1 million to support impoverished children in Africa by shattering the world record.
