Vanessa Obioha
A new festival proposed by Chess in Slums Africa founder and Guinness World Record titleholder Tunde Onakoya will bring chess and art together in a celebration of Lagos’s vibrant culture.
Announcing the Lagos International Chess Festival on Saturday, October 10, at the Mikano Motors showroom in Lagos, where he celebrated his birthday, Onakoya said the festival would take chess beyond traditional tournaments and introduce the game to a wider audience.
He said the idea was inspired by his love for chess and his travels around the world to play the game. Having experienced chess in different parts of the world, he wants others to visit Lagos and experience it in a new way.
“Chess is an intellectual endeavour, but it is also a game that connects people, and my goal is to inspire everyone to play chess. It has a lot of tremendous benefits. It is a game that has opened my world. I hope this festival achieves that,” he said.
Scheduled for October 2027, the festival will bring together people from different walks of life, including artists, doctors and architects. Proposed activities include a chess and art exhibition, a large-scale tournament for children, matches between grandmasters and a celebrity chess tournament. Organisers also plan to introduce a chess and fashion event and a party celebrating Lagos.
Another proposed attraction is chess on a boat, an idea inspired by the city’s waterways and its relationship with the surrounding lagoon.
The festival’s visual identity also draws on Lagos culture. Its logo combines elements of the Eyo masquerade, a recognisable symbol of the city, with the shape of a rook, one of the principal pieces in chess. The colours are intended to reflect the vibrancy of Lagos.