Chess-Playing Robot Breaks 7-Year-Old Boy's Finger in Russian Tournament: 'This, of Course, Is Bad'
A chess-playing robot latched onto and subsequently fractured a 7-year-old boy's finger at the Moscow Chess Open competition on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
The president of the Moscow Chess Federation, Sergey Lazarev, confirmed the incident to Russian state news agency Tass, reported NBC News.
"The robot broke the child's finger — this, of course, is bad," Lazarev reportedly said.
The incident — captured in the video above — happened after the boy made a quick move on the board, Lazarev told Tass.
"The child made a move, and after that it is necessary to give time for the robot's response, but the boy hurried, the robot grabbed him," Lazarev said, according to a translation in the NBC News story.
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A video of the incident shows the robot's mechanical claw grabbing the boy's index finger and holding it for over 15 seconds before people were able to rescue the boy's hand from the machine's grip.
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"There are certain safety rules," Sergei Smagin, the vice president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, according to the Moscow Times. "The kid probably broke them in time trouble, and didn't notice when he made his move."
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Smagin suggested that this was a rare accident, noting that it is the first physical incident in the 15 years the robot has played chess against humans.
The boy has been identified as one of the top 30 chess players in Moscow under the age of 9, according to Baza's Telegram channel, where the video of the incident was posted.
He reportedly finished playing in the week-long tournament with a finger cast. As for his parents, Lazarev suggested they are going to contact the prosecutor's office.
"We will communicate, try to sort it out and help in any way we can," Lazarev told Tass, per NBC News. "And the robot operators, apparently, will have to think about strengthening protection so that such a situation does not happen again."
