A chess robot broke a seven-year-old boy’s finger during a match at the Moscow Open, according to Russian news outlet TASS.
The match took place last week according to Sergey Lazarev, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation.
“The robot broke the child’s finger. This, of course, is bad,” said Mr Lazarev.
“The robot was rented by us, it has been exhibited in many places, for a long time, with specialists,” he explained.
“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,” Mr Lazarev added.
It is not clear whether any safety instructions were issued to the boy before playing the robot.
A video purporting to show the incident was shared on the social media app Telegram.
During the video the robotic arm – which appears to have a gripping tool at the end – seems to pinch the boy’s finger as he quickly responds to the robot’s move.
“The child played the very next day, finished the tournament in a cast, and the volunteers helped to record the moves,” said Mr Lazarev.
The boy’s parents intend to contact the prosecutor’s office, he added, saying the Moscow Chess Federation would try to help them.
“The robot operators, apparently, will have to think about strengthening protection so that this situation does not happen again,” Mr Lazarev said, TASS reported.
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