This record was previously held by two Norwegians, Hallvard Haug and Sjur Ferkingstand. These two played their own chess game for 56hours.
Tunde Onakoya saw this record and thought about breaking it. "I can do this. I'm a national chess master, if I attempt this, I can actually do it...but let me focus on other things. These kids in the slums are really bothering me."
"Hold on! I can use this record to my advantage. I will attempt to break it but do it for only one purpose. I will use the avenue to urge every single person watching, to donate money for every African child out there that needs a better life. I will work towards raising one million dollars with this campaign. God willing, I will have the strength to pull this off".
That moment, Tunde thought about the kids he had always been trying to help, the kids he had always wanted to pull out of the slums. What better way to urge people to raise one million dollars for these kids, than to do what he does best. Play chess.
He decided to break the record of the longest chess game marathon. But he can't do it alone, chess isn't a one man game. He needed someone else, someone to help him achieve this dream, to help him actualise it.
That was when Shawn Martinez came in. After listening to Tunde's idea and purpose, Shawn offered his full support and agreed to play the game of chess with him for 58 hours. That is, Two days, and 10 extra hours.
They kicked off their journey on Wednesday, April 17th around 4:30pm, Nigerian time (which was 11:30am, in New York where the game was being held).
Although Tunde was to play with only Shawn while it was recorded on camera for Guinness world records, he decided to simultaneously play with random chess players on another board (although this was for fun and it won't be counted by GWR).
So, Tunde was simultaneously playing with Shawn on one board and random players on another board while the clock ticked.
Whenever either of Tunde or Shawn win or lose, they start all over and keep on playing until the timer gets to 58 hours.
After several hours, almost a day, Tunde experienced intense vomiting and severe stomach pain. His team asked him if he wanted to quit, he would have said yes immediately but why would he?
If he did, what would happen to the children he planned to save?
He sat down properly , held himself and replied his team 'I want to play on for the dreams of millions of children'.
He held on and forged ahead. Shawn Martinez wasn't having it easy either but they both had two things on their mind, two things that motivated them. The money they were raising with the help of donations and the kids they were raising the money for.
With this, they were more determined to push through and get to the final hour.
Everyone trooped in to support Tunde, both offline and online, home and abroad, we were everywhere.
Even prominent individuals lent their voices and money to him; Sanwo Olu , Tony Elumelu, Atiku Abubakar, Yusuf Datti, Sowore, Osibanjo, Adekunle Gold, including Davido and so many others.
Banks weren't left out either. Wema, Sterling and Fidelity Bank showed their support for Tunde too.
He had the strength and backings of thousands of Nigerians, how do you expect such person to quit? The backings even rubbed off on Shawn, so how can both quit when they had the voices of thousands cheering them on. They persevered and moved on while still very much concerned with how much they've been able to get from donations so far.
Finally, 58 hours arrived with its briefcase of relief, success and joy.
But Tunde stopped it, he did not want 58 hours anymore. He asked Shawn if he could go on to 60hours with him??
Shawn smiled and nodded his head, "why not??".
Not only did they decided to make the number a round number, they also increased it to 60 hours to create more time for more donations from people watching and boy, did it work!!!
They did not only break the 56 hour record, they extended it by extra 4hours.... playing the beautiful game of chess for 60hours.
Dreamer boy...The boy who dreamed .... The boy who imagined...The boy who persevered...The boy who actualised his dream.... The boy who became a man. Take a look at what the Ikorodu boy did in New York City.
The king with the moves of the chess queen, The tribal chief of chess in slums alongside his friend who made it possible to raise over 95,000 doIIars for African kids.
Yesterday, when being interviewed, he mentioned that..."The story of every African child is a story of becoming"
"For me, the greatest miracle of chess is in the inate ability of a pawn(the least valuable piece) to become a queen(the most powerful piece)"
~ Tunde Onakoya
Congratulations , Tunde and Shawn 👑👑