{"id":24169,"date":"2025-06-10T10:55:53","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T10:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=24169"},"modified":"2025-06-10T11:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T11:14:08","slug":"chess-champion-tunde-onakoya-meets-president-tinubu-presents-guinness-world-record-certificate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=24169","title":{"rendered":"Chess Champion Tunde Onakoya Meets President Tinubu, Presents Guinness World Record Certificate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Renowned Nigerian chess master and founder of Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday night, where he presented his Guinness World Record (GWR) certificate for the longest chess marathon.<\/p>\n

The meeting was revealed via a post on President Tinubu\u2019s official X (formerly Twitter) handle. In the statement, the President lauded Onakoya\u2019s remarkable achievements and praised his dedication to empowering underserved communities through chess and education.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI received Tunde Onakoya, founder of Chess in Slums Africa, at my residence today, where he presented his World Record for the longest Chess Marathon,\u201d Tinubu wrote. \u201cTunde\u2019s journey\u2014from the streets of Lagos to inspiring children and breaking world records\u2014reflects the resilience and brilliance of Nigeria\u2019s youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Tinubu commended Onakoya\u2019s commitment to social impact, stating that his work exemplifies how chess can open minds and transform lives, particularly in overlooked communities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Expressing interest in scaling the initiative, Tinubu added, \u201cI would love to see how his work can be replicated nationwide, and I look forward to welcoming him in Abuja to discuss how the government can support this vision. Tunde Onakoya\u2019s mission aligns with our administration\u2019s goals: no child left behind, no talent wasted. Nigeria is proud of him, and we will walk with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tunde Onakoya, alongside American chess player Shawn Martinez, made global headlines in April 2024 when they set a new Guinness World Record by playing chess continuously for 64 hours in New York City. The feat broke the previous 60-hour record\u2014briefly held by a Norwegian duo earlier in the year\u2014and earned widespread acclaim.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Onakoya\u2019s nonprofit initiative, Chess in Slums Africa, uses chess as a tool to mentor, educate, and uplift children in impoverished communities, blending strategy with opportunity to drive real change across the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renowned Nigerian chess master and founder of Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday night, where he presented his Guinness World Record (GWR) certificate for the longest chess marathon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10836,10837,7648,8787],"class_list":["post-24169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-chess-champion","tag-guinness-world-record-certificate","tag-president-tinubu","tag-tunde-onakoya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24169"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24176,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24169\/revisions\/24176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}