Chess-playing robot breaks seven-year-old boy’s finger during tournament in Russia
Published on Jul 25, 2022 at 12:32 PM (UTC+4)
by Kate Bain
Last updated on Jul 25, 2022 at 3:34 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
A robot has broken a seven-year-old boy’s finger during a game of chess in Russia.
The robot was playing against the child at the Moscow Open when it happened.
The boy was unable to free himself and it was only after a group of adults rushed in to help that he was able to escape.
You can watch it play out in CCTV footage here.
READ MORE! Dyson is secretly working on ROBOTS that will do your housework for you
The seven-year-old is one of Moscow’s top 30 players under the age of nine.
“The robot broke the child’s finger,” Moscow Chess Federation President Sergey Lazarev told Tass news agency.
“This is of course bad.”
CHECK THIS OUT!
Video footage from the event shows the boy moving one of his pieces on the board before the chess-playing robot reaches out and grabs his finger.
In footage taken at the event, you can see the boy trying to free his finger before adults around him notice what’s going on.
He is then freed and ushered away from the competition table.
The seven-year-old was able to continue in the chess tournament, playing the rest of the competition in a cast.
The boy’s parents were unsurprisingly not happy about the day’s events.
They are reportedly planning to press charges at the local prosecutor’s office.
Moscow Chess Federation vice president Sergey Smagin told RIA Novosti the robot was extremely safe and the incident was due to human error.
“There are certain safety rules and the child apparently violated them,” he told Ria.
“When he made his move, he did not realize he first had to wait.”
He said the incident was “extremely rare” and the competition did not plan to ban robots from tournaments going forward.
Chess-playing robots have been around for decades, but this is the first reported injury one has caused.
Robots have been programmed to play the game from as early as the 1950s.
Then 40 years later, IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer was so good that it beat then World Chess Champion Gary Kasparov.
WATCH!
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
Kate is Lead Editor, overseeing coverage across automotive, tech, and lifestyle content on the site. She has more than 10 years’ experience as a journalist and news editor, having worked across a range of major publications including News Corp, Daily Mail Australia, and Sky News. Kate holds a Bachelor of Business Management from University of Queensland and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from Queensland University of Technology. She has been with Supercar Blondie since 2020 and played a key role in establishing supercarblondie.com as a leading automotive news destination.
