Today, as I strive to be a consistent, profitable trader, I accept the unavoidable presence of risk.
I choose awareness over emotion, growth over fear.
As a human, I accept death so I may live fully and trade freely.
A season to remember. A season to learn.
A domestic double and everything poured out in pursuit of the title, pushing until the very last breath, only to fall agonisingly short.
Doing all of that in a transitional season is nothing short of extraordinary. It is a brilliant feat and one that deserves to be celebrated wholeheartedly.
And to Pep Guardiola, wishing you nothing but the very best in everything that comes next.
You are a once in a lifetime gaffer. You only come around once. Thank you for changing my club. Thank you for changing my life.
I am forever and eternally grateful for every single moment of it.
10th June 2023. that night in Istanbul.
dear @PepTeam, this was the day i cried tears of joy having won the treble and tonight i’m all alone in my room crying like a kid whose sand castle has been swept away by the ocean.
thank you, man.
They finally won.
What a ride it has been. I can’t thank you enough for changing my life.
I guess when you’re gone they’ll truly appreciate everything you did for this club, because what you built here was nothing short of mental.
Thank you, man.
My name is Bayo Adeniyi a licensed tour guide in Paris and I am proud to have curated this moment with and for Tunde Onokoya
If you need to book a tour in Paris ( Eiffel Tower, Louvre museum, Versailles Palace, Notre Dame, Boat Cruise…) Group tours, Semi private, and private tours @ecklectours_ is your plug
It is with great pride that I present to you the very first Nigerian Adire chess board. Each one sells for a million naira(700 dollars).
It’s a limited collection of just 100 pieces. 50% of proceeds goes towards charity and I will personally hand deliver to the first 20 people.
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
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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 ❤️
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✍️ Vincent the Therapist
He came back from an ACL injury looking a bit rusty, that was always going to happen. But he didn’t hide. He grew into it, built rhythm game after game, sharpening up with every ninety.
He’s slowly elevating that midfield again. The positioning, the control, the calmness under pressure. He dictates tempo, plugs gaps, and gives structure to everything around him.
He’s edging back towards his very best.
Appreciation for Rodrigo Cascante Hernández. Proper midfield general.
We all watched this video of this young man
And I’m sure we all cried along with him
Here are a few things that caught my attention
💡He was crying like he had been praying for a long time. I don’t know about you but as I watched the video, he looked like he could not believe God was actually coming through. His shock was like “wait so God has been hearing my prayers and this is the answer?”
God hears and answers o, what are the odds that out of the myriads of people, the helpers came to him? Dont stop praying
💡His miracle found him working. I don’t know if this guy would have found him if he stayed at home that day. If he decided that since he did not have the tools for the craft he wanted to do then he would not do anything. But he was out packing cartons and stuff just to make a few bucks and that’s where his miracle was
Don’t despise the days of little beginnings. Don’t throw away the rod that is in your hand. The miracle may be in that rod.
💡When He was asked what he wanted, he mentioned the tools he needs for business. Because they could give him food for that day an that food would finish. But he asked for something he knew that even if the helper left, he could still sustain himself. And from that he got way more than he asked for. I heard that people are still calling him and sending him money.
It’s giving Solomon only asked for wisdom and was given so much more. It’s giving “seek ye first the kingdom and all else will be added”
💡I’m sure what made all of us cry was his gratitude. It was the way he was rolling and giving thanks. I don’t know if the helper wanted to go as far as he did for the boy. But the way the boy was showing gratitude for the smallest thing , the helper kept doing more. A lot of people watching kept doing more.
There’s nothing more beautiful than a grateful heart. If humans can be so moved by thanksgiving, then imagine how much more God is moved when we show gratitude for the things He does and wil do for us.
I pray that God puts us in the position to help others. A life lived only for yourself is not a very good life.
We should be a blessing to others.
What you consider little might be life changing for someone else
Blessings!
My name is Zainab. I’m 27 years old. An SS.
That is, I live with sickle cell disease.
My parents are both AS.
Oh, they They knew.
They were told.
They still married.
They said God approved it. They said love would be enough. They said faith would cover the consequences.
I am the consequence.
I was diagnosed before I was two. My childhood memories are not playgrounds or cartoons,they are; hospitals, needles, and adults whispering when they thought I couldn’t hear.
In primary school, I missed classes so often that teachers stopped asking why. Some classmates thought I was pretending. Some thought I was cursed. I learned early how to smile while feeling different.
By secondary school, the pain episodes became more frequent. I would wake up excited for school and end the day on a hospital bed. I watched my mates grow normally while my life moved in pauses, school, hospital, recovery, repeat.
At 15, I lost my younger brother to sickle cell.
We were both SS.
That day changed me forever.
My parents broke down in front of me — crying, apologizing, saying “We followed faith. We didn’t think…”
But the damage had already been done.
Sometimes I forgive them.
Sometimes I resent them deeply.
Both feelings live in me.
In university, I tried to be normal. I joined sickle cell advocacy groups, volunteered with awareness organizations, spoke at events, encouraged parents to test their genotype. People call me strong. They call me a warrior.
What they don’t see is me crying alone at night after another silent pain episode.
They don’t see the fear that comes with planning a future in a body that doesn’t always cooperate.
And Relationships?
That’s another wound.
I’ve been loved… briefly.
The moment conversations turn serious about marriage, children, commitment….they leave. Some are honest. Some ghost me. Some promise forever and disappear quietly.
One man once said he would do anything for me. He talked about taking me abroad, better care, a life without fear. I believed him. For the first time, my heart rested.
Then one day, he stopped calling.
That heartbreak triggered one of the worst crises I’ve had as an adult. Not because of physical stress but because hope collapsed.
Now I’m older. The pain episodes come differently. Less dramatic, but more exhausting. My body recovers slower. My fears are heavier. I ask myself questions my parents never asked each other.
I am strong, yes.
But I am tired.
If you are AS and the person you love is AS, please love your unborn children enough to stop and think. Faith is not a license to ignore knowledge. I am a proof to that
I didn’t ask to be a lesson.
But if my life can prevent another child from being born into avoidable pain, then my voice matters.
That’s why I’m writing this to you. Because people listens to you and this story needs to be heard. I hope that your audience share this till it reaches those who are about to walk by faith and not by sight, Sickle Cell is real!.
Adeyinka, keep rescuing lives, I love how you raise awareness and say the truth unapologetically, those who do not like you are probably those who wish they could be you. Have you met you?. Oh,I see you Queen Ade💪🏻
He dobale like 100 times. He saw his mum kneeling and he added another one. That’s enough to give him more. People who appreciate things can never lack.