Tunde Onakoya is Attempting a 58-Hour Chess Marathon: ‘We’re Doing Great Things From a Small Place’

Last week, Onakoya announced that he would be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon, aiming to play for 58 hours without losing a game, in Times Square, New York, on April 17.

“It’s so hard to prepare for something like this really. They’ll tell you to get a lot of sleep, but the reality is even if you sleep for 10 days straight, it’s still going to be hard to try to stay awake for 60 hours,” Onakoya says. “I think that’s my real opponent — sleep. The chess part will be the easy part, but not sleeping for that long, that will be the ordeal.”

In this interview, Onakoya talksabout why he’s doing this, what he wants from Nigerians – and the world, and the only condition for celebration afterward.

The interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

OkayAfrica: How are you feeling right now with the big event around the corner?

Tunde Onakoya: I’m feeling good, really.

Can you share any memorable moments from your journey leading up to this Guinness World Record attempt?

I was going to write about this story this morning, but I decided against it. Maybe I’ll write about it afterward. Let me just give you a brief narration. Just before I traveled to the U.S., I was at the mall at night to pick up a few things. I got the items and was moving them to my car. And as I was opening my boot at the car park, two kids that I’d seen earlier hovering around, walked up to me to ask for money — they said they needed food, that they hadn’t eaten the entire day. I was looking for spare change to give them, one of them just blurted out, “Chess players observe!”

That’s our motto at Chess in Slums Africa. I was stunned. I asked how he knew it, and he said, in December, on the day we had a tournament in the ghetto where he lives, he came by and he watched the other kids chanting, “Chess players observe,” and he never forgot. It was such an interesting encounter.

I asked for their names, one was Yusuf, the other was Ayomide. They’re 11 and 13 respectively. It was such a moment because we indeed spent the entire month of December in his neighborhood. We were teaching kids and we had a lot of children find their place in the world again. Many of them are in school now, in shelter homes, doing very well.

That kid wasn’t a part of that cohort, yet the one phrase I would always teach the kids, he held on to it.

When I get back to Nigeria, I want to look for that kid, I want to find him and play my part in his story by helping him set his life on a different trajectory. The world doesn’t see children like that; we see them but we really don’t pay attention to their dreams. That’s my role in all of this, to stand in that gap. Because when the world sees me, the world sees them eventually. It’s why I’m doing this. To bring as much awareness and visibility to the cause, and it’s why I say this is for the dreams of thousands of children like that boy, Yusuf.

We want the world to see them. Not just merely to look at them, but to really see them in a way that can bring meaning into their lives. I’m doing this for all of them. They are where my greatest passion and motivation stems from.

How can people support your cause and the work of Chess in Slums Africa, especially at this moment?

I’m doing this and trying to raise $1 million simultaneously. So, donate, donate, donate. More specifically, we need about a thousand people to try to raise $1000 within their communities. The link is online. You can support us generally and you can also start your own fundraiser. It’s a very simple and easy process; you start a fundraiser in your name for a thousand dollars and share it with family and friends. If you could get ten of your friends to give $100 each, or twenty of your friends to donate $50 each, we’re going to hit our goal.

People can help us by donating, and amplifying this on social media so it scales globally. Tell everyone you know that we’re doing great things from a small place.

What major plans do you have in place after this event, and how do you plan to celebrate when you’re done?

That’s an interesting question. I haven’t started thinking about celebration yet. When I started this out, I gave myself the liberty to fail. Now it feels like the pressure has heightened because Nigerians are really invested in this. The former vice president posted about it, the New York TimesAssociated Press, so many people have been posting and reaching out, and the support has been massive.

It’s very humbling, honestly. I didn’t know it was going to get this much traction. I just wanted to do something I’ve always done — chess, and to bring awareness to a cause I care about — children in slums. But seeing how Nigerians have just made this their own and how they’re rallying such massive support, I’m truly grateful.

I’m just going to leave it to Nigerians to celebrate on my behalf. However this goes, I hope I’m able to make it to the very end. I’m pretty sure afterward, the one thing I’d want to do is sleep for a whole day or two. After that, we’ll turn up. What that turn up will look like, I don’t know yet but we’ll see how that goes.

However, while the intention is 60 hours, if we don’t raise the money, no celebration, and I’ll just keep going, I’m not going to leave Times Square. So tell everyone to donate. We need to hit our target.

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You can watch the live stream and donate to Onakoya’s fundraiser here.