Caught On Camera: Russian Chess Champion 'Attempts To Poison' Rival With Mercury

A chess champion from Russia is under investigation for “trying to poison” her childhood rival by reportedly coating her pieces with lethal mercury. Amina Abakarova was taken into custody and, if proven guilty, she may face a minimum of three years in jail. The Russian Chess Federation (RCF) suspended the 40-year-old chess prodigy after a CCTV video revealed the player entering the Makhachkala, southern Russia— the event location. She can be seen approaching the board where Umayganat Osmanova was scheduled to make an appearance in 20 minutes.

The Telegram channel that broke the information first stated that the incident happened on August 2 during the Dagestan Chess Championship. In the video, Abakarova is seen suspiciously scanning a room full of chess boards to make sure nobody else is there.

She then moves to her opponent’s table, pulls what looks to be a bottle from her purse, and pours the material over the pieces before turning to face the rest of the room.

According to Chess.com, she smeared the mercury from the thermometer. The World Health Organization states that mercury exposure, no matter how small, can have detrimental effects on one’s health.

30 minutes after Abakarova sprinkled the substance, Osmanova reported feeling sick, because of nausea and dizziness, which prompted her to seek help right away. Eventually, medical professionals determined that poisoning was most likely the reason. The arbitrator examined the security camera tape and reported it to the police; as a result, Abakarova was taken into custody.

In her account of the incident, Osmanova stated that she was “terrible, disgusting, and morally depressed” upon realising she had been poisoned. She said that a different participant and an organisation member also fell unwell.

“I still feel bad. In the first minutes, I felt a lack of air and a taste of iron in my mouth. I had to spend about five hours on this board. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t seen it earlier,” she told Russia Today.

According to Chess.com, Abakarova admitted to having “personal hostility” against Osmanova, who had defeated her in tiebreaks to win the Dagestan Rapid Championship one week prior, and that she intended to “knock her opponent out of the tournament.”

An internal police report, cited by Russian media, stated that the intention was not to harm Osmanova but rather to scare her.

Sazhida Sazhidova, the Dagestani minister of sport, stated in an interview with the Mirror US: “Like many others, I am perplexed by what happened, and the motives of such an experienced competitor as Amina Abakarova are incomprehensible.”

Sazhidova continued, saying that Abakarova’s actions may have had a very horrific consequence, endangering not only her own life but also the lives of the others in the room. “Now she must answer for what she did by the law.”