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Chess Player Suspended After Allegedly Poisoning Her Rival (chess.com) 77

Posted by BeauHD from the misinterpreting-mercury-in-retrograde dept.
The Russian Chess Federation is suspending a player who is facing jail time for allegedly trying to poison her rival with mercury during a chess tournament. Chess.com reports: Amina Abakarova, a 40-year-old chess coach from Makhachkala in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, is accused of trying to poison her rival, 30-year-old Umayganat Osmanova. The incident unfolded during the Dagestan Chess Championship on August 2, according to a Telegram channel that first reported on the story, and is now making headlines in state-run Russian news media as well as reaching global media as well. Security camera footage shows the incident where Abakarova calmly walked over to the board where Osmanova was supposed to appear 20 minutes later. It was reported that she'd previously asked if cameras were in operation and been told that they weren't. She then smeared what is said to be potentially deadly mercury from a thermometer.

Osmanova said she began feeling unwell 30 minutes later, complaining of nausea and dizziness, prompting an immediate call for medical assistance. Doctors eventually concluded that poisoning was a likely cause. After reviewing the footage from security cameras, the arbiter reported it to the police and Abakarova was detained, rtv1.com reports. [...] 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 has now been detained by police and is facing up to three years in jail, according to The Mirror. Andrey Filatov, the President of the Russian Chess Federation, has also confirmed that Abakarova is temporarily suspended from Russian chess events, pending an investigation into the incident. She is potentially facing a lifetime ban. [...] Despite falling ill, Osmanova fully recovered and continued the tournament, eventually finishing in second place and winning a prize. Abakarova was expelled after the fourth round and is unlikely to play chess again anytime soon.
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Chess Player Suspended After Allegedly Poisoning Her Rival More

Chess Player Suspended After Allegedly Poisoning Her Rival

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  • Poison? (Score:5, Funny)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Thursday August 08, 2024 @06:05PM (#64691376)

    Why poison? Couldn't her opponent simply have an accident falling out a window?

    • Re:Poison? (Score:5, Funny)

      by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday August 08, 2024 @06:31PM (#64691444)

      Why poison? Couldn't her opponent simply have an accident falling out a window?

      She was worried Putin might sue her for trademark infringement.

      • Actually Putin is quite fond of poisons, especially exotic ones like radioactive substances. I believe he's paranoid about them, which is why you often see him meeting with his subordinates while keeping a ridiculous amount of distance from them.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          Actually that's MI6, the Kremlin has access to the same undetectable slow-release poisons to cause a seemingly natural heart attack that the CIA does. We only seem to see these other oddball murders with easily detectable agents in people who the British government no longer has any use for. Well, no use for them other than to make a bunch of noise and create a scandal.

          • the Kremlin has access to the same undetectable slow-release poisons to cause a seemingly natural heart attack that the CIA does

            just like the salisbury poisonings, or the litvinenko poisoning, or the navalny poisoning, the yushchenko poisonings..... idiot

            • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

              by cusco ( 717999 )

              I wasn't going to look them up, but yeah. What did they all have in common? Former Soviet/Russian assets who MI6 had squeezed dry and had no further use for, IIRC Litvinenko was considering moving back to eastern Europe. (Except that idiot Navalny. He'd apparently damaged his heart with his earlier hunger strike, when the Russian government had to forcibly save his life with intravenous feedings.) Instead of having to support a now-useless asset they get a nice propaganda boost.

              Not everything you read

              • What did they all have in common?

                they all ARENT "undetectable slow-release poisons to cause a seemingly natural heart attack "

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by cusco ( 717999 )

                  Right, if that had been used there would have been a small column on the Obituary page saying they had a heart attack and died and that would have been it. Instead Number 10 gets to proclaim to one and all that those nasty Slavs are at it again using some exotic poison that they've pulled out of the pages of a James Bond novel and it makes headlines. Like I said, they've converted their formerly-useless defector into a propaganda opportunity. It does surprise me that it's only the Brits that seem to play

                  • Instead Number 10 gets to proclaim to one and all that those nasty Slavs are at it again using some exotic poison that they've pulled out of the pages of a James Bond novel and it makes headlines

                    so Russia deliberately used a conspicuous chemical to benefit England? makes sense. they should have used those secret chemicals that leave no trace like the CIA, right?

            • Different horses for different courses. Poisons are tools of assassination and just like everything else, there are different tools for different jobs. Sometimes killing your target will draw lots of unwanted attention and blowback, so the assassin will choose a tool that makes the death look natural and surrounds it with heaps of plausible deniability. Other times, you want your target to know it was you to send a message to them (assuming they survive) and everyone like them that they are not out of re

              • Other times, you want your target to know it was you

                other times, theyre just so incompetent. Russia is like the Uri Geller of Espionage

    • Too many "falls out of windows" in Russia. People are starting to get suspicious.

  • mercury phobia (Score:2, Informative)

    by iggymanz ( 596061 )

    Elemental mercury will go right through you; many salts and organic mercury compounds are deadly however.

    • Yeah, ethyl mercury gets sequestered in the brain.

      I got so fooled by the thymerisol controversy.

      • Re:mercury phobia (Score:5, Informative)

        by sjames ( 1099 ) on Thursday August 08, 2024 @09:23PM (#64691766) Homepage Journal

        You're thinking Methylmercury. Ethylmercury has a biological half life of about 7 days.

        None of this is adding up. Thermometers have elemental mercury which is not readily absorbed through the skin and certainly wouldn't have such an effect in 30 minutes. Inhalation of vapor is the primary risk for elemental mercury. That's why we don't have millions of dead or permanently impaired in the U.S. from kids playing with broken thermometers before most went non-mercury.

        • None of this is adding up. Thermometers have elemental mercury which is not readily absorbed through the skin and certainly wouldn't have such an effect in 30 minutes. Inhalation of vapor is the primary risk for elemental mercury. That's why we don't have millions of dead or permanently impaired in the U.S. from kids playing with broken thermometers before most went non-mercury.

          That's a very good point. Wouldn't its silvery appearance also draw attention? Is this story fake news?

          You're thinking Methylmercury. Ethylmercury has a biological half life of about 7 days.

          Disagree. To say the ethyl mercury has a biological half life of 7 days is specious. If it is not in the blood, it has either been removed via the body's detoxification system (liver, kidney or sweat), converted into some other form, or it is distributed to other tissue where it is not easily measured. Regardless blood mercury levels are not a good indication of long term burden. Urine is more accurate but

          • intravenously - injected into the blood

            intraperitoneally - injected into the abdominal cavity

            topically - smeared on skin

            subcutaneously - injected under the skin, generally into fat

            intramuscularly - injected into a large muscle, such as bicep, buttock, or thigh

            intranasally - ....snorted.

            Imagine being a broke college student volunteering for a campus study.

  • Poisoning rivals is illegal in Russia?

  • I bet could do very good in fsb

  • Russia is the toilet bowl of the human spirit. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Eunomion ( 8640039 ) on Thursday August 08, 2024 @06:23PM (#64691422)
    It's the answer to the question, "What if Florida was cold and superficially intelligent?"

  • This seems really sketchy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Retired Chemist ( 5039029 ) on Thursday August 08, 2024 @06:28PM (#64691442)
    Mercury is a systemic poison. It does not cause immediate ill effects on exposure. Also, metallic mercury is actually not very toxic, because it has very poor uptake into the body. Most mercury poisoning is caused by mercury compounds like dimethyl mercury and various salts. Maybe we will eventually find out what really was going on but given that it is Russia quite possibly not.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Mercury is a systemic poison. It does not cause immediate ill effects on exposure. Also, metallic mercury is actually not very toxic, because it has very poor uptake into the body. Most mercury poisoning is caused by mercury compounds like dimethyl mercury and various salts. Maybe we will eventually find out what really was going on but given that it is Russia quite possibly not.

      It is possible she converted mercury from a thermometer into a salt, but I agree there are weird gaps in this story.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Tyr07 ( 8900565 )

      Yeah I thought although you shouldn't handle mercury, as it's dangerous, if you did however and didn't ingest it, washed your hands, you'd likely be fine, it's mercury vapor that I thought was rather deadly. I thought the biggest risks in touching mercury would be if you're rubbing your eyes after or eating food contaminated by the mercury on your hands would be a bigger safety risk than really just getting it on your hands.

      • High school chemistry teacher (long ago) gave advice before a mercury lab. The vapor is toxic, and spilled mercury tends to break up into tiny droplets with higher surface area to volume, that both emit more vapor and are difficult to locate and remove. He showed a zinc sponge used in cleanup then advised that if anyone spilled mercury on the lab floor, he'd have to call in someone with a special vacuum cleaner.
        • When I was in high school, one of the classrooms had to be evacuated because someone dropped and broke a mercury thermometer.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by cusco ( 717999 )

            You're both younger than me, we played around with with the stuff in 5th or 6th grade as part of learning about the elements in science class.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by pjt33 ( 739471 )

              When looking through some charity donations from a house clearance last year, I came across a display set of vials: gold, silver, mercury. It was so old that the mercury was discoloured, but it really shows how attitudes to the stuff have changed: it used to be something pretty that you'd put on your mantelpiece.

              • When looking through some charity donations from a house clearance last year, I came across a display set of vials: gold, silver, mercury. It was so old that the mercury was discoloured, but it really shows how attitudes to the stuff have changed: it used to be something pretty that you'd put on your mantelpiece.

                I had an uncle who was big into mining as a hobby in the 60s and 70s and it’s used because mercury easily dissolves gold. He had a mining flask of mercury (around a gallon) which is ceramic. We had to clean the place out when he passed and no one knew where it was in the piles of crap and I kept thinking what would happen if it fell and shattered. Eventually we found it but that’s not something you just want perched on a high shelf in your cement floor basement. Thank goodness he was kinda

            • I had several ounces flushed through my intestines as a 2 year old because of medical incompetence. In the 70s I was diagnosed with celiac disease and they used a miller abbot tube in a procedure that was filled with mercury to actuate a balloon, it promptly ruptured and all the mercury in the device was shot directly into my digestive systems where they showed up on x rays for weeks. I didn’t die, or get super powers, but I do have quite a bit of unexplained nerve pain.
              • "Yeah, so anyway, long story short, now I can run faster than the Flash, but only after getting buttfucked. Which is how I got my superhero name, The Streak." THE BOYS
      • Don't forget the dental amalgam controversy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hawk ( 1151 )

        > it's mercury vapor that I thought was rather deadly.

        It described the mercury as having been rubbed on a board by where the victim would be.

        I don't know the evaporation rates, or how long it would stay airborne right there. Nor whether it would be enough.

        However, that was the assumption I had from the summary.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ksevio ( 865461 )

      Sounds like she was playing the long game. Maybe they win this one, but 10..20 years from now her opponent won't be able to play!

    • The effects sound like dimethylmercury -- which either she made or someone made for her. This isn't something you order online, but the precursors are available.
      • That might be possible, but you have to be very careful handling it or you would poison yourself first. That is the issue with most contact poisons. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, you are likely to poison yourself before you even get close to your intended victim.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        Except that a dose sufficient for such prompt symptoms wouldn't clear that fast (or ever).

        • Are you saying her plan was dumb, or that it wasn't a plan at all? I'd love to hear a reasonable defense of her actions.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by sjames ( 1099 )

            I'm saying it couldn't have happened as reported at all. Mercury poisoning with any form of mercury simply doesn't work like that.

            Possabilities include:

            1. It wasn't mercury
            2. It was mercury but nobody got sick, it was simply noticed.
            3. It didn't happen at all.

            The initial telegram post (translated by Google) doesn't say anything about anyone getting sick.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by hawk ( 1151 )

            >I'd love to hear a reasonable defense of her actions.

            err, a reasonable defense for the *manner* of poisoning one's opponent in a chess tournament to clear the path?

            When the underlying objective is just plain clinically nutso, it's pretty much impossible to call anything that follows "reasonable".

    • You're right, people used to drink the stuff and suffer no ill effects. Acute exposure to elemental mercury isn't going to do much... you have to sit around breathing its vapours all day. Calling it "deadly" is just nonsense.

  • In a truly egalitarian society everybody has equal access to polonium.

  • This story is an outright lie. The only mystery (Score:5, Informative)

    by localroger ( 258128 ) on Thursday August 08, 2024 @06:58PM (#64691526) Homepage
    ...is which part.

    Metallic mercury as found in thermometers is not, in any meaningful sense, acutely toxic. It is not bioavailable and passes right through the body even if you consume it. You would have to vaporize it and breathe the fumes for literally years to feel any ill effects. Some mercy compunds are extremely toxic, but they don't use that in consumer and medical devices for obvious reasons. When I was a child it was not unusual for the science nerds to open the big bottle of mercury in the chem lab and dip out a few ml to play with by rolling it around on our skin. It was much more of a hazard to gold jewelry (with which it would instantly amalgamize, turning them silver colored) than to biological organisms. It's only regarded as a reason for environmental freak-out because so much of it ends up in landfills and there over years it does form compounds that can be more dangerous.

    So did Abakarova really try to poison Osmanova, just with something that was really poisonous and maybe the state media don't want to give would-be copycats any ideas that would work? Or is the whole thing bullshit? It would certainly be more effective if they didn't lead with such an obvious amateur hour lie. Now if they had said nicotine sulfate, which is found in some insecticides and in all vape cartridges and is neurotoxic enough to quickly kill by contact, I might be less inclined to put their whole news site on my ignore list.

    • It's Russian media, of course it is full of lies.

    • Correct. Long ago a family member bit a thermometer somehow and swallowed the mercury. Poison control said not to worry unless they swallowed the glass too.
  • . . . in Soviet Russia, opponent poisons you.

  • Very mercurial for someone who should have the zen of a chestmaster.

    I've always wondered where dogs rule. Now I know it's Dogestan (Translated by Russians: Dagestan.)

  • As she'd probably checkmate with an AK-47

  • State-run? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

    Why is everyone so intent on drawing out the fact that Russian media is "state-run"?

    The BBC is "state run". CNN and Fox are "state run" - to a similar degree and scope, in practice.

    They all, ultimately, play fiddle to the regime.

    Why is this surprising to anyone? Why must Russia be singled out?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hawk ( 1151 )

      >Why must Russia be singled out?

      Even if we assume your premise, let's compare the consequences for CNN or Fox calling for impeachment of the president , or the BBC calling for investigation of MI6 or a vote of no confidence, to a Russian media criticizing Putin . . .

  • a chess piece? The opponent? The ceiling?

  • I don't know all that much about chess but I beat an MIT researcher by getting him drunk. I used his curiosity to get him to sample multiple craft beers and lured him into a risk-taking play style. Of course back in those days I drank like a sponge and had astronomical tolerance haha. Good times.

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