My passion for chess has helped me survive where the laws of card games and debts of honor are above all. Great masters are afraid to play opposite an inconvenient contender. I was not trained in chess like they were, and I don't operate on canons of conventional battle. I'm able to foresee all possible combinations and win where sleight of hand borders on fiction. My enthusiasm has allowed me to teach children my hobby, until they became aware of my past. Even now, after being debarred, it is pleasant to observe one's young pupils playing with equal skill against the famous masters and great rulers of chess. Renoir portrayed what he saw; I taught what I comprehended. It's possible to deprive a person of life; it's possible to take his freedom away, but to prevent him from speaking about what he has seen and learned is impossible! Short and fascinating stories from the crime thriller series "One Cup Chronicles." A cup of coffee taken along with the new story will especially emphasize a somewhat bitter taste of the criminal world. The following version includes new experiences of American adventures, published for the first time. Welcome in the world behind the looking-glass!!!
About the Author: I was born and raised in a normal town by common people. I am married and have three daughters. My father was an engineer, and my mother was head of the magazine The War Book. I had always dreamed of becoming a naval officer, and I did achieve this goal. But suddenly, my life was turned upside down. The passions of my youth quickly cooled. The collapse of the Soviet Union upended countless lives. Great education and jobs made it very easy to make a fortune in that economy, but it made it just as easy to lose it all as well. The effects of the daring restructuring of the nineties worked its way through every son of the Fatherland. I was touched by the criminal war for the better. We had 24 hours to fight for what was ours. We defended everything, from our businesses down to the well-being of our families. Then I had an epiphany - I wanted to write and talk about what had become apparent through our captivity; to overthrow the fair, blunt primitiveness of mafia ideology, which has been diligently spread by those commercial hacks who don't understand the context or meaning of what they're writing about. I try to remain objective in my work and firmly believe everyone has the right to judge anything for himself, without the interference of social censorship. I hope I was able to stand on neutral ground in my work, and I sincerely hope you see the irony that occurs only as a literary device and not as my way of a means to settle personal scores with those whose views contradict my own. On the contrary, my work is a way of thanking them.