HCM CITY — The new president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), Arkady Dvorkovich, will make a quick five-hour trip to HCM City to award the trophy to the winner of the 9th HD Bank International Chess Tournament.                                                 

Dvorkovich was deputy president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and chairman of the organising committee for the 2018 Football World Cup hosted by Russia.

He is on a visit to Asian countries to promote chess and achieve the target of making it a medal sport at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

His schedule is hectic, yet he will come to Việt Nam to support and promote the sport in the country.

Since 2011 the HD Bank International Chess Tournament has been striving to elevate Vietnamese chess players to world standards.

The winner of the 2019 HD Bank International Chess Tournament will receive the cup from the new FIDE president, who then flies to Kazakhstan to award a prize to the world chess champion.

Vietnamese player Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên said the visit by the president of FIDE to the HDBank International Chess Tournament is an honour for the country’s chess players.

“I wish I will be the champion and receive the cup from him. The big honour…may happen just once."

“With the arrival of the FIDE president, the last two days of the HDBank International Chess Tournament will be very interesting.” — VNS