Father of Nigerian chess master, Tunde Onakoya, Pa Onakoya, has said that he was never in support of his son playing chess, stating that he never knew that Chess would make him popular, Punch reports.
Punch said that according to him, when Tunde was a child, whenever he saw him playing chess, he would pack everything away because he wanted him to focus on his academics.
On April 17, Onakoya commenced his attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
On April 20, he broke the record for the longest-ever chess marathon with a time of 60 hours at Times Square in New York, United States.
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Reacting to Tunde’s success in a video shared on Oyindamola’s X handle on Wednesday, his father described the Chess master as a resilient person.
Onakoya admits grappling with food poisoning during chess marathon.
He said, “To me, Babatunde Onakoya is an angel because whatever he set his mind on must succeed.
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“As a small child, when Tunde was playing chess, I usually packed everything away from him because I wanted him to focus on school. I didn’t know that it was what would make him popular like this.
“My advice for parents is that they shouldn’t discourage their children from their passions. I wanted Tunde to be a doctor but I didn’t know that chess would make him popular like this. I thank God.”
Onakoya broke the record of Norwegian players, Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad, who played for 56-hour, 9-minute in 2018.