Nigeria's Brightest Chess Master, Tunde Onakoya, Setting New Record for Guinness World Book in NYC

In a different post, 4 hours later, Onakoya walloped more chess masters, crossing “20 hours,” out of his envisioned 58 longest marathon of playing chess without losing.

Nigeria’s brightest Chess Master, Tunde Onakoya, is competing to be the global chess master, while breaking the Guinness Book of Record for the longest chess marathon. Onakoya, 29, is planning to surpass the existing 56 hours and set a new 58 hours record.

Candied funfair starts to gather in abundance at New York City on Wednesday where Onakoya is currently playing different chess masters. Nigeria’s celebrities and icons, like Tony Elumelu, Group Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Nigerian Singer Adekunle Gold, among others have paid him a physical visit, while many others are sending cheers on social media.

Onakoya who started the competitive yet intensive game a few hours ago has played different chess masters for 16 hours and has beaten them all in a landslide victory, he posted on his X account 4 hours ago.

In a different post, 4 hours later, Onakoya walloped more chess masters, crossing “20 hours,” out of his envisioned 58 longest marathon of playing chess without losing.

In his X post, Onakoya posted, “We’re getting closer and we will get there. Thank you! Thank you!!”

Striking feeling in Onakoya’s historic victory is that he aims not only to break the world record of 56 hours, set in 2018, but also wishes to raise money for the Gift of Chess and Chess in Slums Africa, organizations that aim to use the game to lift children out of poverty.

“I’m playing for the dreams of millions of children globally without access to education,” read a message from Onakoya on a sandwich poster near the tables set up for his game. The goal was to raise $1 million over the next three days, said Russell Makofsky, a co-founder of the Gift of Chess.

At any given point, Onakoya was in the middle of two consecutive games, including one against Shawn Martinez, a national chess master who coached Tanitoluwa Adewumi, a boy who lived in a homeless shelter in New York City and became a chess master.

“I think it’s been really great so far to see how, like, he’s obviously able to simultaneously tackle two opponents,” said Kemi Adesunloro, 28, who was among those gathered to watch the games on Wednesday. Onakoya wallops Martinez.

Yemi Okeniyi, 40, from Brooklyn, also looked on, as “Last Last” by Burna Boy, a Nigerian singer, sounded out from a nearby speaker. Okeniyi said she had learned about the event from her sister, whom she had dropped off at the airport to head back to Nigeria earlier that day.

“She said, ‘This is historic — we need to actually support our Nigerian brothers,’” Okeniyi said, adding that she had come straight to Times Square from the airport.

“I am really terrible at chess — I’ve tried — so everybody that can play chess is impressive to me,” Okeniyi said, adding that the cause was important. “They have helped and changed the lives of several Nigerian children, so I hope they can support more children.”

The Gift of Chess started in New York City during the pandemic, in December 2020, and the goal was to distribute 10,000 chess sets to children who were socially isolated to help them reconnect, Makofsky said. He met Onakoya after The New York Times ran an Opinion article about Tanitoluwa, who is known as Tani; Makofsky ran the program at Tani’s school. The group began to distribute the chess sets in African countries and globally, with Onakoya’s help.

“We believe that we need to reimagine education beyond the four walls of a classroom,” Makofsky said.

The honking, music and crowds of Times Square did not affect Onakoya’s game, said Emmanuel Abiodun Oke, the chief operations officer for Chess in Slums Africa. Instead, it was the temperature of 61 degrees; it was almost 90 degrees in Nigeria. Onakoya requested gloves and a sweater. But he still won the matches he played.

One player he beat was Jules Bula, 36, who lives in Washington, D.C., and learned of the event through an Instagram post while he was visiting New York City.

“He’s definitely a master at the game,” Bula said after his match, which he said had lasted around nine minutes. He was able to secure just one of his opponent’s pieces.

Bula said he felt inspired but also humbled. “I thought I could have won, but I think I need to practice some more,” he said with a laugh.

Enoch Oyedibu

I am a writer and investigative journalist who specialises in literary criticism and underrepresented narratives. Among other publications, I have been featured in Business Day Nigeria, TheICIR, Platform Times and Daily Nigerian. Right now, I work as a full-time staff writer for Unconventional Magazine.