April 18, (THEWILL) – Nigerian chess master and founder of Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, has embarked on a 70-hour chess marathon in a renewed attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
The marathon, which began on Thursday, April 17, at Times Square, New York City, is scheduled to run through April 20, 2025.
Onakoya first gained global recognition in April 2024 when he and American chess master Shawn Martinez completed a 60-hour chess marathon, surpassing the previous record of 56 hours set by Norwegian players Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad in 2018.
However, their record was short-lived as another Norwegian duo set a new benchmark of 61 hours, 3 minutes, and 34 seconds just two months later, in June 2024.
Now, a year later, Onakoya and Martinez have returned to the board, aiming to set a new record with a 70-hour marathon.
Onakoya, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), explained that the motivation behind his record attempt is to raise support for the construction of free schools for homeless children across Nigeria.
“My dream is to inspire the world and raise support to build the biggest free school for homeless children in Nigeria,” he wrote.
“I won’t be doing it alone. I’ll be playing alongside these kids who have shown all of us that it is possible to do great things from a small place. They will only join in for a few hours. This is an open call to every chess player in New York City to come and challenge them,” he added.
Evi Ben Ezaga writes on entertainment, culture, and trending stories.
