Onakoya unveils Lagos International Chess Festival, targets global players in 2027

By Temitope Aina

Nigerian chess advocate and Guinness World Record holder, Tunde Onakoya, has unveiled the Lagos International Chess Festival, a new global sporting and cultural event expected to draw leading players, celebrities, artists and chess enthusiasts to Lagos for its maiden edition in October 2027.

Onakoya unveiled the festival on Saturday, October 10, at the Mikano Motors showroom in Lagos during his birthday celebration, describing the initiative as an attempt to take chess beyond conventional tournament halls and showcase the cultural energy of Lagos to the international chess community.

The festival, according to him, will provide African players with a platform to test their skills against international competitors while combining high-level chess with art, fashion, entertainment and other expressions of Lagos culture.

Its logo captures that fusion, combining the image of the Eyo masquerade, one of Lagos’ best-known cultural symbols, with the shape of a rook, a major chess piece. Its colours were also designed to reflect the vibrancy of the city.

“This is the starting point, the visual reality of the first edition. I’m excited, a bit nervous and very curious, but I know that, like everything else we’ve done, we have to have faith in our ideas,” Onakoya said.

Proposed events for the festival include a chess and art exhibition, a large-scale children’s tournament, grandmaster contests, celebrity chess competition, a chess and fashion event and a party celebrating Lagos.

The organisers are also considering staging chess on a boat, drawing inspiration from Lagos’ waterways and the city’s distinctive character.

Onakoya said the larger ambition was to make chess accessible to people who might never ordinarily walk into a conventional tournament venue and to present the game as both a competitive sport and a vehicle for social connection.

“Chess has given me a way to find my place in the world, and I want to share that. It is a beautiful game, and it has the power to bring people together,” he said.

He said the festival would also give African chess talent greater international visibility and create opportunities for players on the continent to build stronger relationships with the global chess community.

The unveiling attracted representatives of Mikano, Landmark Africa Group, Lufthansa, Hennessy, The Plug Global Agency and Chess in Slums Africa, as well as other guests.

An intimate dinner at Gräs Lagos followed the unveiling.

With the maiden edition scheduled for October 2027, the Lagos International Chess Festival is being positioned as more than a chess tournament, bringing sporting competition, culture and entertainment together in an event designed to reflect the character of Lagos and attract participation from across the world.

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