Chess-Playing Robot Breaks 7-Year-Old Boy’s Finger During Tournament
A 7-year-old boy in Russia suffered a broken finger while facing off against a robotic opponent during a competitive chess tournament this month.
According to Russian news agency TASS, the AI-powered robot fractured the boy's finger after the young player made an abrupt move during their chess game.
"A robot broke a child's finger. This is, of course, bad," Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told TASS.
Lazarev shared that the organization rented the robot, which "has been exhibited in many places by specialists for a long time."
"Apparently, the operators overlooked some flaws," he continued, detailing the events that led to the child's injury.
"The child made a move, and after that, it is necessary to give time for the robot to respond, but the boy hurried, and the robot grabbed him," Lazarev said. "We have nothing to do with the robot."
Footage of the accident initially surfaced on Baza News before going viral on social media.
Content warning: Footage may be upsetting to some viewers.
The clips shows an aerial view of the boy playing chess against a robotic arm. When the robot snatches the boy's finger, bystanders rush over to physically pry the boy's finger from the robot's grasp. After he's freed, the distressed boy is ushered away for medical attention.
Following the incident, the boy's finger was put in a cast on site and he continued the game the following day.
"The child played the next day, finished the tournament in a cast and volunteers helped to record the moves," Lazarev told TASS, sharing the organization plans to "coordinate to understand what happened and try to help [the family] in any way we can."
"The robot's operators, apparently, will have to think about strengthening protection so that such a situation does not happen again," he added.
The young boy eventually moved on in the tournament, competing in later rounds of the Moscow Chess Open held from July 13 to 21.