The other day I was watching a biography on Alexander Pichushkin, better known at The Chessboard Killer. I don’t believe I’ve done a post on him and thought it was about time I did!

Alexander Pichushkin was born on April 9, 1974 in Moscow. That’s right, we’re talking about a Russian serial killer. He committed his first murder while he was a student in 1992 but stepped up his game in 2001. He’s believed to have killed 48 people but he’s claimed upwards of 63, one for each space on a chessboard. Some of his victims were residents of the same apartment complex and one was even a coworker. He would always use the same location to committ his murders, Bitsa Park, and would kill them using a hammer. Some of the bodies he left out in the open and others he would toss down a sewer drain. Those bodies were never recovered. It’s said that Pichushkin had a sick obsession with Andrei Chikatilo, another Russian serial killer who was convicted of killing 52 women and children over the course of 12 years. He wanted to “out do him” and be the most well known Russian serial killer of all time. The fact that he was only charged with 48 murders angered him, as he fell short of his “goal.”

He was arrested June 15th of 2006 and was convicted of 48 murders and 3 attempted murders. Since Russia doesn’t have capital punishment he was sentenced to life in prison with the first 15 years to be spent in solitary confinement.

If you’d like to read and learn more about Alexander Pichushkin be sure to check out the following links:

The Grandmaster Of Murder (TIME Magazine)
Russia’s ‘Chessboard Killer,’ Claiming 63 Murders, Gets Life in 48 (NY Times)
Biography.com Bio