A chess-playing robot grabbed and broke the finger of its 7-year-old opponent at a Moscow chess tournament.
The incident occurred on July 19 after the young player moved too quickly in violation of safety regulations, according to TASS. It took several spectators to dislodge the child’s finger from the robot.
“The robot broke the child’s finger — this, of course, is bad,” said Moscow Chess Federation President Sergey Lazarev. “The robot was rented by us, it has been exhibited in many places, for a long time, with specialists. Apparently, the operators overlooked it. The child made a move, and after that we need to give time for the robot to answer, but the boy hurried, the robot grabbed him. We have nothing to do with the robot.”
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Baza Telegram channel posted a video showing the child quickly moving his piece as the robot was still making its move. The robot responded by grabbing the finger of the child, still gripping the chess piece, prompting a panicked response from spectators.
The robot’s creators told Baza that the robot was designed with artificial intelligence that gave it the ability to play three chess matches at once. The unfortunate child, Christopher, is reportedly one of the 30 top chess players under 9 years old in Moscow. He was attending the event as part of a tournament, which he had to finish in a cast.
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“The child played the very next day, finished the tournament in a cast, and the volunteers helped to record the moves. Moskomsport called now, the parents want to contact the prosecutor’s office, we will communicate, figure it out and try to help [the family] in any way we can. And the robot operators, apparently, will have to think about strengthening protection so that this situation does not happen again,” Lazarev further told TASS.
