Moscow

A female Russian chess player was detained and could face a lifetime ban and jail time after allegedly trying to poison a rival during a tournament, a clandestine act caught on security camera. 

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Russian Chess Federation suspended Amina Abakarova, 40, who targeted her childhood rival Umayganat Osmanova, 30, with poisoning. She potentially faces jail time and a lifetime ban from the game, according to reports in Russian media.

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Abakarova is a chess coach from Makhachkala in Russia's Dagestan region.

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What the security camera footage shows

The incident happened during the Dagestan Chess championship on August 2.

Abakarova was caught on CCTV footage walking to a room full of chess boards, 20 minutes ahead of her childhood rival, Osmanova, was to appear for a game. 

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The footage shows her pouring something from what looked like a thermometer.

According to a report in Chess.com, it was potentially deadly mercury.

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Osmanova, as well as one of the event organisers, felt sick with nausea and dizziness and medical aid had to be called in. 

Doctors found poisoning to be the cause of their sickness.

Russian media reports said Abakarova was later detained and a police report filed.

Dagestan's Minister of Sport, Sazhida Sazhidova, said, "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."

Rival returns to finish the game

Osmanova said later that she felt "terrible, disgusting and morally depressed" after finding out that she had been poisoned, according to a Chess.com report. 

"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," Russia Today quoted her as saying.

She recovered and finished the tournament with a second prize. 

According to Russian media reports, Abakarova was motivated by personal hostility and wanted to scare, not harm, her rival. She wanted to "knock Osmanova out of the tournament", said reports.

(With inputs from agencies)