Tunde Onakoya, the current holder of the longest unbeaten chess marathon in the Guinness World Records, has stated that he experienced food poisoning during his successful attempt to break the record. PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Onakoya’s 58-hour quest to break the Guinness World record for the longest unbeaten chess marathon began Wednesday, April 17 at 10am in Times Square, New York and ended at about 12:40am (04:40GMT) on Saturday.
The Nigerian chess expert started the marathon with the goal of raising $1m for children’s education across Africa through the record attempt.
He initially aimed to play the royal game for 58 hours but continued until he reached 60 hours at about 12:40am (04:40GMT) on Saturday, surpassing the previous chess marathon record of 56 hours, nine minutes and 37 seconds set in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebo and Sjur Ferkingstad.
During the record-breaking marathon game, Onakoya competed against Shawn Martinez, an American chess champion, in compliance with Guinness World Records rules that require two players to play continuously for the entire duration in order to break the record.
Despite encountering health difficulties during the marathon, including severe vomiting and stomach pain, Onakoya remained resolute. When given the option to give up, he declared, “I will continue playing for the dreams of millions of children.” His determination has received widespread support, with online well-wishers and onlookers at the scene cheering him on.
For every hour of game played, Onakoya and his opponent were only granted a five-minute break.
In his post on his X handle, the 29-year-old wrote that he suffered food poisoning that prevented him from eating.
“Catching up on social media now and I’ve constantly fought back tears,” he tweeted.
“Love you guys very much. I’ll do a proper post when I get the right words to express all of the emotions I feel right now.
“Let me delve into this jollof rice for now. It’s my first meal in almost four days. I had food poisoning during the marathon so I couldn’t eat anything at all, just water.”
Onakoya is well known in Nigeria, where he launched the Chess in Slums project in 2018 in Ikorodu, on the outskirts of Lagos.
The organization provides often-overlooked young individuals, many of whom are not in school and contribute to their families, a space to learn how to play chess.
