PICTORIAL: Tunde Onakoya begins 70-hour chess marathon in New York to reclaim world record

Nigerian chess master and founder of the Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, has commenced another attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.

Gift of Chess, a New York-based non-profit organisation with the mission of distributing chess sets around the world, revealed the commencement of the marathon in photos and videos shared on X.com on Thursday.

This marks Onakoya’s second attempt at the prestigious record.

In April 2024, he completed a 60-hour chess marathon alongside US chess master Shawn Martinez, surpassing the 56-hour record previously set in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad.

However, their achievement was short-lived, when another pair of Norwegian players set a new record of 61 hours, 3 minutes, and 34 seconds just two months later in June 2024.

One year after, Onakoya and Martinez have embarked on a 70-hour chess marathon to reclaim the title and set a new world record.

The event which began on April 17is taking place in Times Square, New York City, and will continue until April 20, 2025.

PUNCH Online reports that Onakoya emphasised that the goal of this marathon is not just to claim the record, but to raise awareness and support for building the largest free school for homeless children in Nigeria.

He wrote, “My dream is to inspire the world and raise support to build the biggest free school for homeless children in Nigeria.

“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).”

See photos below

Watch videos here

𝐓𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐲𝐚 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝟕𝟎-𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝

Nigerian chess master and founder of the Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, has commenced another attempt to break the Guinness… pic.twitter.com/ap7mSEuzP1

— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) April 17, 2025