In Dagestan, a chess player spilled mercury next to her opponent's board during a republican tournament. This was reported by the Baza Telegram channel and the Pod'em publication.
According to Baza, the incident occurred five days ago — last year's winner of the North Caucasus Federal District chess championship, 40-year-old Amina Abakarova, spilled mercury on the table where her opponent Umayganat Osmanova was playing.
As Mash reported, Osmanova later felt unwell — an ambulance was called for her, she complained to doctors of nausea and dizziness. Doctors suggested that the chess player could have been poisoned by some toxic fumes.
According to the Telegram channel, security forces watched the footage from the cameras and saw how a woman in the hall spilled an unknown substance on one of the tables. After that, Abakarova was detained, now the issue of initiating a criminal case is being decided.
Dagestan Sports Minister Sazhid Sazhidov confirmed the incident in a conversation with Pod'em. According to him, Abakarov was excluded from the tournament and faces «lifelong disqualification, dismissal from work, and criminal prosecution.»
Earlier, the Dagestan Interior Ministry Department responded to Pod'em's question about the incident by saying that it was «astonished» by the news, emphasizing that there were no police calls in connection with the incident. Mash Gor also wrote that the Ministry of Emergency Situations was called to the venue, but the ministry also denies this information.
Baza writes that Abakarov told other athletes that she had decided to do so out of revenge. According to the Telegram channel, the chess player played a match with Osmanova at the end of July and lost.