THE CHESSBOARD KILLER

Birth nameAlexander Yuryevich PichushkinAlso known as“The Bitsa Park Maniac”“The Chessboard Killer”

Born9 April 1974 (age 38)Mytishchi, Moscow Oblast, Russia

PenaltyLife Imprisonment

KillingsNumber of victims48–60+

CountryRussia

Date apprehended16 June 2006

DESCRIPTION

AttributesVictim Count: 40-60+

Victim Rate:48–60+ kills over 11 years

Weapon: Hammer, and Vodka

Type: Organized Spree Killer

Attitude: To go un-captured

Victims-Committed first murder as a student in 1992

-Stepped up his crimes in 2001

-Primarily targeted elderly homeless men by luring them with vodka. After drinking with them, he would kill them, hitting them on the head with a hammer.

-He then stuck vodka bottles in their skulls to ensure that they did not survive. -He also targeted younger men, children and women.

MotiveRussian media have speculated that Pichushkin may have been motivated by a macabre competition with Russia's most notorious serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, (convicted in 1992 of killing 53 children and young women in 12 years)

Pichushkin has said his aim was to kill 64 people, (the number of squares on a chessboard).

HISTORYRemembered to have been an initially sociable child

This changed, after an incident… Pichushkin fell backwards off a swing and was subsequently struck in the forehead by the swing as it swung backwards.

Experts have speculated that this event caused damage to the frontal cortex of Pichushkin's brain, which is known to produce poor regulation of impulses and a tendency towards aggression.

became hostile and impulsive frequently,

mother decided to transfer him from mainstream school to one for those with learning disabilities.

Children from mainstream school began to physically and verbally bully Pichushkin, referring to him as " that retard", intensifying his rage.

Upon reaching early adolescence, Pichushkin's grandfather recognised that Pichushkin was highly intelligent, and felt that his innate talents were being wasted,

Grandfather took Pichushkin to live in his home and encouraged intellectual pursuits and interests, outside of schooling.

…The most significant of these interests was chess, Pichushkin was taught how to play and was then introduced to the exhibition games played publicly in Bitsa Park.

Pichushkin found a way channel his aggression, by dominating the chessboard in all his games

His opponents were regularly elder men…

He was still bullied by other children,

Grandfather dies.

It has been reported that the death of his grandfather greatly affected Pichushkin,

He began to consume large quantities of vodka,

possibly to dull the pain from the loss and, calm his severe aggressive tendencies.

Continued to play chess both at home and in Bitsa Park, now joining the other men in drinking vodka,

Though unlike the other men, alcohol did not affect his chess abilities.

Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin

Video Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M9LHW4YSR8