Bhubaneswar: Chess star of Odisha Swayangsu Satyapragyan was accorded warm receptions after he arrived in the city here today after a month-long tour to Italy where he won one out of three international open tournaments, finished fourth in another, secured two Grandmaster norms and came closer to becoming the first Grandmaster of the state in the near future.

I was the first player from Odisha to win an international open tournament, said Satyapragyan, an employee of Air India. I was in the lead after completion of seventh round. But a draw against an Ukrain Grandmaster in the penultimate round denied me a better finish, he said. Satyapragyan, who bagged IM norm in 2002, had secured his first GM norm at New Delhi in 2006 and the second at Kolkata three years later.