Picture Credit: X
Amina Abakarova, the Russian chess player, allegedly tried to poison her opponent Umayganat Osmanova with a potentially deadly mercury substance during the Dagestan Chess Championship on August 2. After the video of the incident went viral on social media platform X, the 40-year-old got suspended by the Chess Federation of Russia, and reportedly faces time in jail.
Notably, the news about the incident involving Amina Abakarova and Umayganat Osmanova broke via a Telegram channel, and now, it has hit global headlines as well. The footage from the security camera showed that Abakarova calmly walked over to the chessboard where she was supposed to take on Osmanova before smearing mercury on her opponent’s pieces from a thermometer.
According to the report from Chess.com, Amina Abakarova had asked the officials about whether the cameras were operating before the start of play at the Dagestan Chess Championship, who told her that they weren’t.
After contracting with the potentially dangerous mercury substance on the chessboard, Umayganat Osmanova spoke about feeling unwell just 30 minutes later. She also complained of nausea and dizziness, which led to her getting medical assistance, and the doctors spoke about poisoning being the likely cause of her condition.
Umayganat Osmanova said the following about the incident, “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.”
Following her detention by the police, Amina Abakarova reportedly confessed her intention to knock out her opponent out of the tournament due to personal hostility. Umayganat Osmanova won a title a week prior to the incident on tiebreaks against her in Dagestan, Russia.
