THIS is the chilling moment a chess star allegedly poisons her rival with mercury in broad daylight after she badmouthed her.
CCTV shows 40-year-old Russian chess pro Amina Abakarova chucking what is believed to be the toxic chemical on a chess board.
Grainy footage shows Abakarova walking tentatively across a room, looking up to see if one of the two people nearby notice her carry out the ploy to take down Umayganat Osmanova.
She approaches one of the desks with a chess board laid onto it and puts the non-descript carrier bag she’s carrying underneath it.
The chess player then finds another desk and appears to brush a dark grey powder – which prosecutors allege is mercury – onto the board.
It looks like she’s smearing the dangerous element onto the wooden game board using one of its chess pieces to distribute it on the very edge of the table, adjacent.
Abakarova then appears to frantically put the chess piece down in the exact same place she grabbed it.
She scans the room carefully upon exit to check if the coast is clear, and the alleged chilling assassination plot appears to go unnoticed.
It’s unsure when the footage was captured by security cameras but it was ahead of a game.
It turns out her long-time foe Umayganat Osmanova, 30, was due to play in that room later that day as part of the Dagestan Chess Championship in south Russia.
Osmanova played as intended and became ill with “severe dizziness and nausea”, allegedly as a result of inhaling the toxic dust.
After the poisoning, Osmanova continued to participate in the tournament – and even won a prize.
Abakarova, 40, reportedly confessed to pouring mercury near the board in a cunning plot to harm Osmanova.
She’s accused of secretly pouring the mercury from a thermometer on her rival’s board – and smearing it with a chess piece.
The tournament’s judge reported the incident to police, and the CCTV was inspected shortly after.
Abakarova has been detained and faces jail of up to three years if convicted and faces charges of “intentional infliction of bodily harm”.
She is pressing for “maximum punishment” for Abakarova over the poisoning.
Dagestan’s Minister of Sport Sazhida Sazhidova said: “Like many others, I am perplexed by what happened, and the motives of such an experienced competitor as Amina Abakarova are incomprehensible.
“The actions she took could have led to a most tragic outcome, threatening the lives of everyone who was present, including herself.
“Now she must answer for what she did by the law.”
Her friends say her alleged behaviour is “completely out of character”.
Abakarova said her motive was “personal hostility” to Osmanova, who had recently beaten her in a regional contest, said reports citing law enforcement.
She allegedly accused Osmanova of being rude about her and her relatives behind her back.
Last year, Abakarova won the North Caucasus Federal District Chess Championship in Pyatigorsk.
She works as a chess coach and teaches at a school in Makhachkala while Osmanova runs her own chess school.
