By Victor Kanayo
The founder of Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, is currently embarking on a drive for a 70-hour chess-playing marathon.
Heritage Times (HT) reports that Onakoya began his second Guinness World Record (GWR) attempt for the longest chess marathon on Thursday, April 17, 2025, at Times Square in New York City, United States.
Tunde Onakoya aims to play chess for 70 hours without losing.
In a video of the countdown shared on his X account by his handler, Onakoya was surrounded by fans cheering him on.
The Nigerian chess master had previously completed a 60-hour chess marathon in April 2024, alongside US chess master Shawn Martinez, and will be hoping to set another record.
Both surpassed the 56-hour record previously set in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad.
However, Onakoya and Martínez’s 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.
Now, barely a year later, Onakoya and Martinez have embarked on a 70-hour chess marathon to reclaim the title and set a new world record.
