Tunde Onakoya Kicks Off 70-Hour Chess Marathon in New York to Reclaim World Record

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

The New York-based non-profit, Gift of Chess, shared photos and videos on X announcing the start of the marathon, which began on April 17 at Times Square and is scheduled to run until April 20, 2025.

This is Onakoya’s second bid for the title. In April 2024, he and US chess master Shawn Martinez completed a 60-hour chess marathon, beating the previous 56-hour record set in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad.

However, their record was surpassed just two months later in June 2024, when a new Norwegian duo played for 61 hours, 3 minutes, and 34 seconds.

Now, a year later, Onakoya and Martinez are aiming to reclaim the title with a 70-hour marathon.

Beyond the record, Onakoya stated that the deeper purpose of the challenge is to raise awareness and support for building the largest free school for homeless children in Nigeria.

“My dream is to inspire the world and raise support to build the biggest free school for homeless children in Nigeria,” he shared. “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).”

It begins pic.twitter.com/Bo7mHltqL1

— Tunde Onakoya (@Tunde_OD) April 17, 2025