“I used to stop my son from playing chess when he was a child”— Tunde Onakoya’s father

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Pa Onakoya, Tunde Onakoya’s father, has disclosed that he used to stop Tunde’s chess games to make him focus on his education.

Recall that Nigerian chess master Tunde Onakoya recently made headlines by breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon, playing for 60 hours straight at Times Square in New York City.

This feat, accomplished on April 20, surpassed the previous record set by Norwegian players who played for 56-hour, 9-minute in 2018.

In an interview with City Edge TV on Wednesday, Pa Onakoya disclosed that he had initially opposed his son’s interest in chess.

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He said, “To me, Babatunde Onakoya is an angel because whatever he set his mind on you must succeed.

“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.”