A female Russian chess champion has been caught on CCTV smearing pieces with mercury to poison her childhood rival ahead of a contest.
Amina Abakarova, 43, was filmed as she walked into the tournament hall of the Dagestan Chess Championship in Makhachkala, southern Russia, last Friday and took what appeared to be a vial out of her bag.
She went on to pour the contents of the vial – which turned out to be mercury – over a chess board and tried to conceal the liquid by wiping the board with a chess piece.
The chess board targeted by Abakarova belongs to Umayganat Osmanova, 30, with whom she is said to have been in conflict with for years.
Abakarova attacked her rival Osmanova to take revenge for insulting her and her family, according to competitors who spoke to her at the tournament.
Amina Abakarova, 43, was filmed as she walked into the tournament hall of the Dagestan Chess Championship in Makhachkala, southern Russia , last Friday and took what appeared to be a vial out of her bag
She went on to pour the contents of the vial – which turned out to be mercury – over a chess board and tried to conceal the liquid by wiping the board with a chess piece
The chess board targeted by Abakarova (pictured) belongs to Umayganat Osmanova, 30, with whom she is said to have been in conflict with for years
Abakarova attacked her rival Osmanova (pictured) to take revenge for insulting her and her family, according to competitors who spoke to her at the tournament.
Witnesses said that Abakarova had behaved suspiciously 20 minutes before the contest started, asking if the cameras were set up to record the games being played were working yet.
When she was told they were not, she decided to carry out her plan, looking around to make sure no one was looking as she approached Osmanova’s table.
But she did not realise that the cameras had actually been switched on in the tournament hall ready for the event on August 2.
Osmanova, who was later sitting at the table where the poison was poured, reportedly got severely dizzy and nauseous shortly after the game started.
She was subsequently hospitalised with suspected mercury poisoning.
When the CCTV footage from the tournament was examined by a judge, the police were called after Abakarova was spotted pouring the substance over Osmanova’s board.
Abakarova took what appeared to be a vial out of her bag before pouring it out over her rival’s chess board
Chess officials have not waited for the results of the police report, and confirm that Abakarova (pictured) was immediately stripped of her title of Dagestan Chess Champion after they saw the footage
Abakarova first put a bag down under one table after entering the hall, before walking over to the table behind while looking around to pour the poison over her rival’s chess board
‘We have video proof showing that one of the players at the Dagestani chess championship, Amina Abakarova […], applied an unidentified substance, which later turned out to contain mercury, to the table where Umayganat Osmanova […] was set to play against her,’ Sazhid Sazhidov, Russia’s minister of sport, told the Telegraph.
Sazhidov added that he was ‘perplexed’ by Abakarova’s attack and that her motives are ‘incomprehensible’.
Russian police confirmed that an investigation was started under the charge of ‘inflicting bodily harm’.
However, chess officials have not waited for the results of the police report, and confirm that Abakarova was immediately stripped of her title of Dagestan Chess Champion after they saw the footage.
The executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, Alexander Tkachyov, said that his organisation was now considering banning Abakarova for life, but will wait on the outcome of the police investigation.
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