On June 22, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov met with St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko and the Deputy Governor Vladimir Kirillov. During the negotiations, it was agreed that the Northern Capital would host one of the stages of the new Grand Prix Series in the summer of 2017.
The world-famous Hermitage could be the venue of a Grand Prix. According to its Director Mikhail Piotrovsky, during the tournament, an exhibition dedicated to chess will be organized basing on items of the museum's storerooms.
Thus, the Hermitage will join the Louvre, the Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, and other famous cultural institutions, which held chess summits within their walls.
In addition, it was agreed that St. Petersburg would join the FIDE programme "Chess in Schools" in the near future. This project supposedly will cover about 800 city schools and the related agreement will be signed between the parties concerned.