In world first, Russian chess player poisons rival’s board with mercury

2 years ago by some_guy to c/world

At least it wasn't novichok.
DoctorButts 291 points 2 years ago

What an imbecile. Mercury is a planet. It is too large to be hidden anywhere on a chess board

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some_guy 127 points 2 years ago

Wrong. Mercury is a god. He's much too powerful to do the biddings of a puny mortal.

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makyo 80 points 2 years ago

You're both wrong, it's a car. I'm pretty crazy about one though.

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perslue 72 points 2 years ago

You all were close but, still wrong. Marie Curie was a scientist.

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veloxization 40 points 2 years ago

You're also wrong. He's a singer known as Freddie. And I don't know what kind of necromancy was used to get him on a chess board.

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wildncrazyguy138 24 points 2 years ago

And that scientists name? Albert Einstein.

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Chee_Koala 5 points 2 years ago

Marc Anthony is a singer/songwriter, pfffff.

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homesweethomeMrL 25 points 2 years ago

I hear it’s in Gatorade

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Bocky 16 points 2 years ago

Gators are too big to fit in the bottles, can’t be that

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strawberry 3 points 2 years ago

not in microwave?

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cdf12345 2 points 2 years ago

This comment is an underrated gem.

Bravo sir.

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todd_bonzalez 1 point 2 years ago
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breadsmasher 183 points 2 years ago

russians prove they can’t win anything legitimately

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circuscritic 40 points 2 years ago

...this was a regional tournament, in the Caucasus Republic of Dagestan.

So calling them Russian is technically accurate, but really they are a brutalized and subjugated colonial subject of Russia.

Also, you'll find this kind of crazy anywhere you go. She literally just dumped mercury around her opponents chess board when she thought no one was around to notice.

I get why it's catching headlines, but give me a break. It's just crazy being crazy.

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HomerianSymphony 20 points 2 years ago

So calling them Russian is technically accurate

The word Russian has two meanings in English. It can mean relating to the country of Russia, or relating to the Rus ethnicity.

The Russian language distinguishes the two. The first is росси́йский. The second is ру́сский. Both words are translated as “Russian” in English, which causes confusion in English, but there’s no such confusion in Russian.

These people (Dagestanis) are Russian in the first sense, but not the second sense.

Historically, the second sense of “Russian” included Ukrainians and Belarussians (so you could say Ukrainians were Russian in the second sense, but not the first sense) but it’s become controversial to do so since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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circuscritic 1 point 2 years ago

I can only approach this from the English language, which is why I said technically correct. But I also feel the article should have done a lot better job explaining that they were Dagestani, which is not unreasonable as if this had happened in Chechnya, it would have said Chechen.

Also, I have never seen Russian used interchangeably with Ukrainian, or Belarusian, before or after, 2014. But again, maybe that's just my English language only bias.

That said, I do appreciate you writing on the explainer for other users who aren't familiar with the status of, or distinction between Russia and the Caucasus.

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Chee_Koala 1 point 2 years ago

Interesting! thanks for elaborating. A week or month ago, a local Ukrainski politician, I thought it was a lady person, proclaimed that using the Russian language the invaders use is like spitting in the face of your home country. She got a hell of a lot of pushback on that. That made it seem that a lot of locals still prefer Russian to Ukrainian language. Can you shed some light on those conflicting sentiments?

Was inspired to educate myself a bit extra on Cyrillic script, so, from the english wiki:

"As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia. " ... "The Slavic languages are conventionally (that is, also on the basis of extralinguistic features) divided into three subgroups: East, South, and West, which together constitute more than 20 languages. Of these, 10 have at least one million speakers and official status as the national languages of the countries in which they are predominantly spoken: Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian (of the East group), Polish, Czech and Slovak (of the West group), Bulgarian and Macedonian (eastern members of the South group), and Serbo-Croatian and Slovene (western members of the South group) "

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ChickenLadyLovesLife 4 points 2 years ago

they are a brutalized and subjugated colonial subject of Russia

TBF even Russia is a brutalized and subjugated colonial subject of Russia.

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YeetPics 8 points 2 years ago

Very not true, Kaspersky® just won a legitimate label as malware.

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MP3Martin 1 point 2 years ago

Kasperskyⓜⓐⓛⓦⓐ®ⓔ

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Klear 5 points 2 years ago

Yeah! Take that Kasparov! You can't win anything!

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Andromxda 3 points 2 years ago

Except maybe the competition for most war crimes committed, but they are closely rivaled by the Israeli fascists

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divergency 1 point 2 years ago
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bizzle 2 points 2 years ago

Japan, maybe? Or like the Khmer Rouge? I'm not saying the Nazis aren't monsters because they totally are, I'm just saying the competition might be closer than you think.

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Mango 2 points 2 years ago

Dina would like a word.

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breadsmasher 1 point 2 years ago

who?

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Mango 1 point 2 years ago path: 0 11657753 11662453 11664440 11666051, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
morphballganon 101 points 2 years ago

Is it a first?

Or is it the first time they got caught?

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Johnmannesca 27 points 2 years ago

Yes

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HubertManne 81 points 2 years ago

this type of stuff I will never get. why are you in a competition if you don't want to do the thing you competing in to win. join an assasin competition.

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Wogi 36 points 2 years ago

they HAVE those???

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Delta_V 42 points 2 years ago

in Russia, they call them "democracies"

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Pronell 8 points 2 years ago

Or "defenestracies".

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CptEnder 2 points 2 years ago

Lmao that's pretty a solid one, nice

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captain_aggravated 18 points 2 years ago

Boeing sponsors a whole team.

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jaybone 1 point 2 years ago

When they win, they get a stranding ovation.

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divergency 7 points 2 years ago
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jaybone 2 points 2 years ago

Poor choice of heavy metal.

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scarabic 3 points 2 years ago

I think sometimes competition breeds contempt and she hated this person enough to want to kill her, in addition to wanting to remove her as a challenge.

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Lizardking27 70 points 2 years ago

Actually that's allowed, google en poissant.

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amansman 16 points 2 years ago

Holy nightshade!

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Leate_Wonceslace 1 point 2 years ago

Actual Russian.

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stringere 9 points 2 years ago

Googling "en poissant" yields "en passant" as a suggested term.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant

En poissant = in sticking En passant = in passing En poissant = in fish

Je suis hereux d'apprendre quelques psuedo-homonymes en francais ce jour!

Merci!

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Lizardking27 6 points 2 years ago

Merci à vous! I do not know French, and my comment was a pun on "en passant" using the word "poison", but I appreciate the free lesson!

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stringere 3 points 2 years ago

Vous etes remerci. "You're welcome" is literally "you are rewelcome". :)

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Krauerking 3 points 2 years ago

WOOOSHHH

Is the sound the pun made as it just whizzed by you.

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ArugulaZ 62 points 2 years ago

Between this, the antisemitism of Bobby Fischer, and the guy cheating with the power of teledildonics, I have to wonder what the hell is up with chess players.

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Ulfhethnar 22 points 2 years ago

The only murder in Antarctica was a Russian killing somrone with an ice ax over a game of chess.

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CanadaPlus 4 points 2 years ago path: 0 11665304 11667430 11675808, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
naevaTheRat 0 points 2 years ago

Hmmm lets examine this statement.

Isolated weird place, scary Russians, Russian stereotypes of intellectual game + tremendous violence.

Gee, it almost sounds like this is a too convenient racist lie. Any proof? The oldest reference just says 'it totally happened' and cites something I can't access on Google books. It's 20 years after the fact and not a primary source.

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TranscendentalEmpire 17 points 2 years ago

Hell hath no fury like a competitive nerd being put on a pedestal.

I think this happens a lot anytime someone who perceives themselves as being shunned by society gets too much positive feedback and an iota of power over people.

I think its the same reason why every nerdy twitch streamer ends up being outed as an abusive child predator.

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captain_aggravated 8 points 2 years ago

Nice to see an instance of my favorite word in the wild.

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AnxiousOtter 8 points 2 years ago
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captain_aggravated 4 points 2 years ago

Good guess.

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volvoxvsmarla 2 points 2 years ago

Should I be scared to google it?

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The_Picard_Maneuver 52 points 2 years ago

What a bizarre way to try to murder someone. And over a chess game? I know Russians take their chess seriously, but this is insane.

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ohwhatfollyisman 90 points 2 years ago

wait till you hear about their approach to roulette!

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the_post_of_tom_joad 8 points 2 years ago
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YeetPics 2 points 2 years ago

Oh boy, just wait until you read up on Russian politics/polonium toxicity!

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AFC1886VCC 47 points 2 years ago
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Angry_Autist 23 points 2 years ago

You had the chance to legitimately used 'defenestration' and you didn't jump on it?!

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Shou 9 points 2 years ago

No no, the point is to make someone jump on it. In this case, it was you!

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Natanael 4 points 2 years ago

I'm not taking the fall!

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Shou 5 points 2 years ago

No no. You see. You didn't actually chose to jump on it, the other person made you. You have no say in the taking the fall.

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Th3D3k0y 9 points 2 years ago

Russian suicides you mean? Russian has never once in its history killed anyone, they died of their own accord.

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ZILtoid1991 3 points 2 years ago

They also started a misinformation campaign about a female boxer's gender.

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aidan 1 point 2 years ago

This wasn't assassination though, the headline is just deceptive. It was just a lone psycho in Russia trying to kill another Russian. Not an international competition, like was implied in the headline. (Or at least that's the impression I got from the headline.

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Ordo_Bellatores 47 points 2 years ago

'traditional russian values' on display for all to see

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sol6_vi 44 points 2 years ago

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Ukraine." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Russian when death is on the line!"

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fmstrat 41 points 2 years ago

Oliver Carroll, a Ukraine war correspondent for The Economist, summed up the situation with some social media snark: "I know that on the standards of Russian doping it's perhaps only a 7 out of 10. But still..."

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catloaf 38 points 2 years ago

I'm surprised it actually worked. Liquid mercury isn't really that harmful, it's the vapors that get you. I'd be concerned about it affecting me too, since I'd also be sitting at the board.

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Kolanaki 8 points 2 years ago

It just says attempted poisoning so I'm not even sure it did actually work.

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scarabic 1 point 2 years ago

Comments above say the opponent was hospitalized but not killed. I can’t swear to the veracity. There are many forms of mercury though and they vary in toxicity.

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KazuyaDarklight 5 points 2 years ago

Filters shoved deep in the nostrils maybe?

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stoly 6 points 2 years ago

I’m no chemist but understand the liquid mercury is safe to handle for short periods provided you wash your hands well. It can absorb through your skin over time though.

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Mostly_Gristle 1 point 2 years ago
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WhimsicalSofa 1 point 2 years ago

Probably not pure mercury but one of the extremely nasty mercury compounds that is easily absorbed through the skin. The victim was very sick.

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TheBigBrother -2 points 2 years ago

Kamikaze poisoning.. people at both sides will be suspects, seems like a good plan.

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TriflingToad 3 points 2 years ago

ever watched the princess bride?

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Gsus4 32 points 2 years ago path: 0 11658161, hotness: undefined, score: 32, children: 0
carl_dungeon 31 points 2 years ago

Sounds pretty Russian

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TheBigBrother 29 points 2 years ago

If chess players do this, what do you think Russian secret service it's capable of?

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Commiunism 27 points 2 years ago

These chess strategies are getting more and more creative

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AlolanYoda 17 points 2 years ago

I bet all the people who said "chess is a solved game" are feeling really silly right now

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vxx 6 points 2 years ago

People that say that should always feel silly because chess isn't solved.

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Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In 1 point 2 years ago

FYI

endgame tablebases (strong solutions) have been found for all three- to seven-piece endgames, counting the two kings as pieces.

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BeardedGingerWonder 3 points 2 years ago

So not solved then.

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ours 2 points 2 years ago

They're thinking out of the box now. Or out of the board.

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jaybone 2 points 2 years ago

Out of the window.

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necromancyr 26 points 2 years ago

"I learned it by watching you, Vlad!"

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some_guy 1 point 2 years ago

Someone grew up in the 80s.

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lemonmelon 23 points 2 years ago

The Quicksilver Gambit? In modern chess? We're far beyond that!

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Xerxos 22 points 2 years ago

This opening move is called "The Russian Statesman". Very traditional.

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shalva97 22 points 2 years ago

Russians doing Russian things

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todd_bonzalez 21 points 2 years ago
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isolatedscotch 6 points 2 years ago

should've used dimethylmercury

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Wilzax 7 points 2 years ago

The potion of instant dementia

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todd_bonzalez 5 points 2 years ago
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CanadaPlus 4 points 2 years ago

I don't know what the exact rules are here, but if there's no specific clause about it one surviving competitor is technically a win.

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rob_t_firefly 3 points 2 years ago

Cut to the chess judges frantically flipping through the rulebook like in Air Bud...

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redhorsejacket 6 points 2 years ago

I mean, the article states that the victim did suffer some symptoms, so I wouldn't say they were totally unaffected. If the article is accurate, would it be possible that she was inhaling vapor from the spill? The victim is quoted as saying she had to be at that board for 5 hours, and the Wikipedia article indicates that the primary danger of elemental mercury is inhalation of vapor (it claims 80% absorption rate via respiration, as opposed to the 1% via direct contact). Unfortunately, I am pretty ignorant of chemistry, so I've no idea if my speculation is plausible. How much room temp mercury would need to be sitting in front of you before you felt the effects of the vapor. Or even if you would at all, since the CDC website says the vapor is more dense than air.

Additionally, I noticed that one of the symptoms of mercury inhalation is cognitive impairment. Obviously this is more speculation, but perhaps the intent was not to kill, but rather to sabotage the victim's play? After all, it seems like the perpetrator and the victim were rivals. Could be a Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding situation, just more classically Russian what with the use of poison rather than brute force.

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phoenixz 20 points 2 years ago

What is it with Russian athletes (being it mental or physical) just always cheating so much that at this point it's just expected?

Would it have anything to do with living in a dictatorship with a leader who always needs to be perceived as the best with the best countryband the best people because of his policies?

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theacharnian 7 points 2 years ago

Russia has enough of a population that crazies pop up. Think Florida man.

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tleb 6 points 2 years ago

Probably because they were raised in the post-Soviet mafia era.

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drunkpostdisaster 4 points 2 years ago

Its pretty common practice to cheat. Jon Jones has been getting away with cheating for years.

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Steamymoomilk 17 points 2 years ago

This is a story made for all the chess meme communities

Opening move Move poison to c1 Poison opponent

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yokonzo 16 points 2 years ago

I don't get this, mercury will absorb into the skin but it's not lethal unless you're exposed to a constant amount over time

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pivot_root 16 points 2 years ago

Evidently, she didn't understand that dimethylmercury is not the same thing as elemental mercury.

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jaybone 6 points 2 years ago

What’s the difference? (So I don’t embarass myself at my next chess tournament.)

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originalucifer 16 points 2 years ago

this was a death in paradise episode!

s11e08

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Moonrise2473 5 points 2 years ago

Lol just learned about that series. 100+ murders in the span of a few years in a remote Island with 10k population? Sounds plausible

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originalucifer 3 points 2 years ago

haha yeah, the murder rate is a bit steep. as someone else said who had pointed it out to me on lemmy, its like comfort food. you kinda know what youre getting, but the characters are well written.

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jaybone 1 point 2 years ago

Sounds like a Dexter type show.

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homesweethomeMrL 15 points 2 years ago

I told y’all in 2020 - build a giant fence around there and nobody go in for 100 years. After that we’ll check on ‘em. But nooooo “it’s too expensive” pfffft. And now look - it’s . . . whatever this is!

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Empricorn 2 points 2 years ago

We could have had Australia 2!

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Cataphract 15 points 2 years ago

Once again, 105 comments and nothing about the actual article and it's information. Plenty of xenophobic comments against a population of a country (like the U.S. government is that great, so therefor I must be exactly like my political leaders). The Chess players had already competed against each other and the other player who was poisoned won by a default with a tie. There's some other reporting about a confrontation between the two and they've known each other for years apparently.

Chessbase said the dispute was over a recent match between the two in which "both chess players scored the same number of points, but the victory was awarded to Osmanova, based on additional factors."

Another Telegram channel says that the issue was about negative statements made by Osmanova about Abakarova and her family members.

One Russian news outlet said that the two had known each other for years but had recently fought. In this version of the story, Abakarova showed up to one recent match with a phone, which is against the rules. Osmanova was upset but did not tell the judges. "She should have been grateful to me that I didn’t make a fuss and forgave her," Osmanova said. "Instead, Amina refused to shake my hand during the competition last week."

Definitely not ok either way and I hope that they get a sentencing that matches the crime. This is just a bitter crazy person it seems and has nothing to do about poisoning to win a match. Love the disconnect on the sports world and rampant cheating like it doesn't exist everywhere lol.

edit: some grammar

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RubyRhod 0 points 2 years ago

...guy fucking lemms.

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ohwhatfollyisman 13 points 2 years ago

it was all a result of a misunderstanding. his coach told him to focus on the H, G files of the chessboard and he heard that as something else.

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HomerianSymphony 3 points 2 years ago

*she

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ohwhatfollyisman 3 points 2 years ago

ah, so it was another misunderstanding, then. she was taught that the queen can do absolutely anything on the chess board and proceeded accordingly.

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IzzyScissor 2 points 2 years ago

It took me way too long to realize this was supposed to be a joke because Hg is the chemical symbol for Mercury. Such an easy thing to mishear.

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Varyk 13 points 2 years ago path: 0 11662797, hotness: undefined, score: 13, children: 2
vxx 2 points 2 years ago

Am I seeing it right thats she's not wearing gloves?

path: 0 11662797 11667377, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
Varyk 1 point 2 years ago

yes, apparently you can touch it and the effects are pretty mild with short exposure if you wash your hands after, most of the toxicity is from the fumes.

so she touched it but she was only there briefly, while her opponent that she was trying to poison was sitting there breathing in the fumes for 5 hours.

path: 0 11662797 11667377 11667925, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
nieceandtows 11 points 2 years ago

Should have used polonium instead, like the dear leader

path: 0 11661080, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
werefreeatlast 10 points 2 years ago

Oooo, I heard putin like chess? Maybe he could play next?

path: 0 11663819, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0
Kolanaki 9 points 2 years ago

How would it have poisoned just his rival and not also him? Touching it doesn't do much unless you're submerging your skin in it for long periods. The fumes would affect everyone. And it's very unlikely his opponent would have licked the board to ingest the mercury.

path: 0 11660530, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 4
general_kitten 7 points 2 years ago

Organic mercury compounds can look like water and absorb quickly through skin, they can be potent enough for just a drop on your skin being deadly, even if you have gloves as it can penetrate quickly through many different rubbers. Metallic doesn't kill you even if you ate it*. With metallic mercury highest risk is vapours but unless you heat it it will only become a problem in poorly ventalated areas.

*assuming you have no open wounds on your digestive tract and minor chronic damage might be still caused depending on amount and frequency.

path: 0 11660530 11662034, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 1
HomerianSymphony 5 points 2 years ago

Metallic doesn't kill you even if you ate it

The article says it’s safe to touch and even swallow, but inhaling it causes problems consistent with the victim’s symptoms.

path: 0 11660530 11662034 11662210, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
floofloof 5 points 2 years ago

How would it have poisoned just his rival and not also him?

Don't know, but both players were women.

path: 0 11660530 11661738, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
mightyfoolish 1 point 2 years ago

Suicide chess player?

path: 0 11660530 11661782, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Bluefalcon 9 points 2 years ago

Season 2 of The Queen's Gambit sounds crazy.

path: 0 11675050, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 1
Socsa 2 points 2 years ago

Mad Max crossover confirmed

path: 0 11675050 11676716, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Mora 9 points 2 years ago

Should have used vibrating anal beads imstead.

path: 0 11664945, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0
AgentGrimstone 5 points 2 years ago

If you can't beat'em, kill'em.

path: 0 11664294, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
AshMan85 4 points 2 years ago

Sounds Russian.

path: 0 11658303, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
bdonvr 4 points 2 years ago

Seeing as mercury fumes are the real danger (you can fairly safely handle elemental mercury, it won't absorb into the skin) this seems like an exceptionally poor poisoning attempt. Maybe if you put a fan behind you so the fumes only waft into the opponents face...

path: 0 11658364, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 1
Hikermick 1 point 2 years ago

Yeah I have so many questions. How would both players not get poisoned? Does mercury evaporate? I played with thermometer mercury as a child, does that explain things?

path: 0 11658364 11686128, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
umbraroze 3 points 2 years ago

Intercepted message:

No no no no no no.

You throw the board out of the window.

The opponent goes "Oh no! My board!" and runs after it.

You have failed the basic training, agent.

path: 0 11676771, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
ZeffSyde 2 points 2 years ago

Self defenstration! Genius.

path: 0 11676771 11677471, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
AidsKitty 3 points 2 years ago

At least they didn't "fall out the window."

path: 0 11661797, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
abfarid 2 points 2 years ago

Arstechnica.

Edit: for those not understanding the joke, arsenic (As) is another toxic metal.

path: 0 11666310, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Socsa 1 point 2 years ago

Tankies: is this critical support?

path: 0 11676692, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
feedum_sneedson -3 points 2 years ago

she cute

path: 0 11674847, hotness: undefined, score: -3, children: 0
MediaBiasFactChecker -9 points 2 years ago path: 0 11657707, hotness: undefined, score: -9, children: 0
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