He is 31 years old
At nine months old, a failed measles injection by a local nurse caused avascular necrosis, leading to lifelong hip pain and leg weakness until his hip replacement surgery
Four of his siblings died in childhood (likely related to sickle cell trait in the family), making his survival a "statistical miracle"
At age 10, he dropped out of school due to poverty but returned after his mother worked as a cleaner for six years to pay his fees
He learned chess as a kid at a local barber's shop in a Lagos slum while playing video games with friends
Barely spoke English when he started secondary school (mostly Yoruba at home) but quickly picked it up from classmates
His mother was a petty trader (thrift clothes seller), and his father sold spare parts. They met in a Lagos market
Chess helped him develop a strong photographic memory, which he used to cram for exams and survive without parental allowances
He became Nigeria's No 13 ranked chess player and earned the National Master title at age 20
He won gold medals representing Yaba College of Technology in the Nigeria Polytechnic Games and the RCCG Chess Championship
He also won the National Friends of Chess Tournament and the Chevron Chess Open
He got a diploma in computer science and used chess winnings to support himself through school
Founded Chess in Slums Africa in September 2018 as a volunteer-driven nonprofit after visiting slums like Majidun
The organization has reached thousands of underprivileged kids, including producing a 10-year-old champion with cerebral palsy
Tunde Onakoya broke the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon (over 60 hours) in Times Square, New York, in 2024
Featured in CNN African Voices for his work
Tunde has a younger brother (two years apart)
He credits chess with saving him from slum poverty and giving him an "intellectual identity"
He once simultaneously won 10 chess games at the DLD Conference in Germany
First African to win the Lideramos Youth Award for Social Impact in Spain.
Won the Corporate Chess Championship in Malawi with a perfect 7/7 score
Tunde dreams of building the world's biggest chess institute in Nigeria
.
.
.
.
Tunde Onakoya has brought attention to Africa through Chess.
He started teaching chess at a younger age to children.
I'm talking of around 2013/2014 when he was meeting at parks around Lagos State, just to teach kids in the open (mostly after work hours)
.
.
Today, I am more interested in telling you more about him, and how he has also risen from a place of deep poverty and struggles.
He has done soooo much for people and it's only expected that these past impacts would show on him as well
You might have your reservations about him, but you cannot downplay how he used the game of chess to bring great changes to children's lives.
.
.
A lot of children now have access to education, purpose and meaning, thanks to Chess.
You are also part of his story. Tunde didn't do all these alone.
Your support, your accolades, your retweet, your reposts, everything
So look at the bigger picture.
Think of the kids whose lives have changed from taking alcohols and drugs on the streets of slums, to having regulated mental health and more purpose driven lives, due to Chess and the opportunity it brought.
.
.
.
.
Tunde can't certainly please everyone, and yes, there might be actions that many people would attribute to him being human.
But if children would smile again, because he created an opportunity for them to have their smiles again.... Then it's one of the best legacies anyone can ever have.
And you also can create your own legacy to which nations would applaud, recognise and help preserve 🫂
The sky is big enough for you, I and Tunde to shine and shine bountifully well ❤️
.
.
.
✍️ Vincent the Therapist
Your AI agent can now generate and ship videos.
HeyGen CLI is now live.
Run one command and your agent handles it all:
script → avatar creation → video → delivery
All from the terminal. Just your agent and the CLI.
RT + Comment “CLI” and we’ll DM API credits (must follow)
@omma_ai Open-sourced on GitHub. Fully documented. Built so any data team, startup, or solo analyst can deploy it without a vendor contract. Omma powers the conversational layer that makes the whole thing feel human.
@omma_ai Building BountyAI on Omma: an open-source web app for data people (analysts, engineers, ops teams) that turns messy operational data into real-time decisions. No black-box tools. Just transparent, auditable AI logic anyone can fork and deploy.
No, it's not true as presented. This image recirculates Nigeria's 2022 ARCON policy banning all *foreign* (non-Nigerian) models and voice-overs in local ads to promote homegrown talent—not specifically "white & British" ones. The quote isn't from any official statement, and there's no new ban. It's exaggerated for clicks.