Vikas Sahu, Lake City Chess Coach, National Chess Instructor and FIDE Arbiter was awarded with the First International Arbiter Norm at the Grand Master Circuit tournament held in Bhopal in the last week of December.

Rajeev Bhardwaj, President of Chess in Lakecity informed that the tournament consisted of 322 players from 17 countries, consisting of Grandmasters, International Masters, FIDE Masters and FIDE rated players.

Vietnam”s Nguyen Duc Hoa with 8.5 points took home the coveted winners purse of Rs 2 Lakh in addition to the trophy, after defeating Russian Grandmaster Rozum Ivan at the first table in the first round.  Nguyen achieved a record three consecutive Grand Master tournament wins in India in a year.  Prior to this tournament, he has also won the KIIT International held in Bhubhaneshwar in May 2017 followed by the Mumbai International in June this year.

A total of Rs 10,18,000 worth of prize money was up for takes in this tournament.  The prize distribution ceremony was held in the presence of Director Sport, Madhya Pradesh, Upendra Jain, President of Madhya Pradesh State Chess Association Sunil Bansal, SN Rupla IAS (Retd), Gurtej Singh DGM, Union Bank of India and Kapil Saxena, Secretary, Madhya Pradesh State Chess Association.