The father of Nigerian chess master, Tunde Onakoya, Pa Onakoya, has said that he wanted his son to be a doctor not a Chess player.
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.
Pa Onakoya made this known in a video shared on Oyindamola’s X handle on Wednesday.
He said, “To me, Babatunde Onakoya is an angel because whatever he set his mind on 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.”
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.
Onakoya broke the record of Norwegian players, Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad, who played for 56-hour, 9-minute in 2018
