Chess Champion, Tunde Onakoya Completes 70-hour Chess-A-thon, Awaiting Guinness World Records
BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Nigerian chess master and founder of Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, has rounded up a 70-hour chess marathon in Times Square, New York.
The mar
athon ended Sunday, April 20, 2025, after four days of non-stop gameplay alongside his chess partner, Shawn Martinez.
In a post shared on Instagram shortly after the clock stopped, Onakoya described the moment as a dream come true and a call to action for education and opportunity for street children in Nigeria.
“For all the dreamers! We’ve officially BROKEN THE RECORD with my brother,” he wrote.
The official stamp from Guinness World Records is still being awaited, but support has been pouring in from Nigerians and chess lovers around the world.
Back in April 2024, Onakoya and Martinez had surpassed the previous 56-hour record set in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad.
But that record didn’t last long, another Norwegian duo overtook them just two months later with a 61-hour, 3-minute, 34-second streak.
Now, one year later, Onakoya surpassed it with a 70-hour streak.
