Chess robot breaks seven-year-old’s finger, Tourney blames the child

Last week was a child play chess against a robot when, according to one official, something “naturally bad” happened. According to Russian media reports and a video of the incident, the robot caught the seven-year-old’s finger and broke it. Not good!

The attack, the malfunction, or whatever you want to call it, happened at the Moscow Open last week. The guard reports. A boy named Christopher, one of the top 30 chess players in the under nine division, was playing a crane-shaped mechanical arm and was rapidly changing moves when the accident happened.

According to Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, the boy interrupted the robot’s move. It had only been a little while before the boy hurried to move again before the robot was ready. When nearby adults realized what had happened, they intervened to free the child.

“There are certain safety rules and the child appears to have broken them. When he made his move, he didn’t realize that he had to wait first,” Sergey Smagin, vice-president of the chess federation, told the Baza Telegram channel. “Of course that’s bad,” Lazarev said.

Officials say the robot has completed previous games that day, as well as previous exhibitions, without incident. Also, based on the video footage, it looks like the kid tried to move parts while the robotic arm was still moving. At the same time, Chess prodigy or no, what else would you expect from a seven year old?

While Christopher’s finger was broken and placed in a cast, he still completed the tournament with volunteers helping to comment on his moves. While Russian chess officials claim the robot is still “perfectly safe”, The guard reports that the child’s parents may take legal action with the public prosecutor’s office.