Moscow: A Russian serial killer, who reportedly hoped to murder one person for every square on a chessboard, today admitted at his trial to 63 murders and attempted murders, Interfax news agency reported.

Alexander Pichushkin told the court he would admit to the 52 murders and attempted murders that he has been accused of, as well as 11 others.

"I thought it would be unfair to forget about 11 more people," he said. Pichushkin, nicknamed the "mad chess player" in Russia's tabloid press, is alleged to have committed his first murder as a student in 1992 and to have bludgeoned many of his victims to death with a hammer.

Investigators said Pichushkin aimed to match his victims to the 64 squares on a chessboard, and to exceed the number of victims of the infamous Soviet-era serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of murdering 52 people.