Painting the Siege of Leningrad

FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, after a yesterday’s meeting with Saint Petersburg Governor Georgy Sergeyevich Poltavchenko, has announced that one of the stages of the new series of World Chess Federation’s Grand Prix will be held at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg (former Leningrad), Russia, most likely in summer of next year. The Director of the Hermitage Museum Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky is planning to organize, in concomitance with the Grand Prix, a themed exhibition on the subject of chess to be held at the Hermitage, which will host contributions coming from different Russian fine art’s depositories such as the State Russian Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, and so on. It was finally agreed that in the near future Saint Petersburg will join and start the World Chess Federation’s educational programme “Chess in Schools”, which should involve about 800 schools in town.

From left: FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov and Saint Petersburg Vice Governor Igor Nikolayevich Albin carrying out new football stadium visit in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Photo: Elista.org.