Professional chess player Amina Abakarova, 40, of Dagestan was caught on video allegedly trying to poison her rival, Umayganat Osmanova, 30, at the Dagestan Chess Championship last week. Abakarova is seen walking over to a board where Osmanova will be playing and reportedly smearing it with mercury from a thermometer. Video below.
According to Osmanova, she felt sick shortly after touching the board and physicians suggested she had been poisoned.
"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 state-owned news agency Russia Today[…]
Despite falling ill, Osmanova fully recovered and continued the tournament, eventually finishing in second place and winning a prize.
From Chess.com:
Abakarova has reportedly confessed that she wanted to "knock her opponent out of the tournament," admitting "personal hostility" toward Osmanova, who had a week earlier won the Dagestan Rapid Championship above her on tiebreaks. The plan was not to harm Osmanova, but to scare her, according to a police report quoted by Russian media.
Abakarova is now facing three years in prison and has been suspended by the Chess Federation of Russia.
Previously:
• I love watching this chess player crush obnoxious dudes
• Chinese Chess master accused of cheating using remote-controlled vibrating anal beads
