Chess Marathon: Tunde Onakoya battles health challenges, refuses to give up

The chess master aiming to break a Guinness World Record, Tunde Onakoya suffers a health setback during his marathon but refuses to give up.

The New York-based non-profit organization, Gift of Chess revealed that Tunde endured severe vomiting and stomach pain during his ongoing marathon but remained determined not to give up on Thursday.

Onakoya, alongside his United States counterpart Shawn Martinez, is striving to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon at New York City’s renowned Times Square, with the event set to conclude on Friday, April 19.

Despite concerns about his health, they initially believed he might not continue the record-breaking endeavour, but Tunde Onakoya proved relentless in his determination.

Gift of Chess reported this in a post via the X platform while urging his supporters not to give up on him.

“That’s @Tunde_OD curled over in pain. Yesterday we did not think we could continue, as he was experiencing intense vomiting & stomach pain.

When given the choice to quit, he said I will play on for the dreams of millions of children.

Tunde has never quit on the kids, let’s not quit on him. Everyone who has liked a photo we ask you now to donate. $5 dollars is way more than enough.”

It is worth noting that Tunde’s donation hit over $40K when he surpassed the 40-hour milestone in the chess marathon.