The FIDE Congress, which took place during the 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 at Mahabalipuram, Chennai from 28 July to 10 Aug 2022, approved one Woman International Master (WIM) and three International Arbiter (IA) titles for Odisha players and officials.

The WIM title was awarded to Saina Salonika and IA titles to Aparajita Gochhikar, Bhabesh Mohanty and Santosh Mohapatra. A total of 45 persons from India were awarded with Grandmaster (GM), International Master (IM), WIM, IA and Fide Arbiter (FA) titles at the FIDE Congress.

It is notable that GM Viswanathan Anand of India was elected as Deputy President of FIDE. All Odisha Chess Association (AOCA) President Gobinda Chandra Mohapatra, Secretary Debabrata Bhatta, Chief Patron and Dr Achyuta Samanta and AlCF Joint Secretary Ranjan Mohanty have congratulated the Odisha awardees for bagging FIDE titles.
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PHOTO: File picture of Odisha Woman International Master Saina Salonika.