Robot breaks finger of 7-year-old opponent at Moscow Chess Open | WATCH
Chess is known for being one of the games played with calm concentration, patience and strategic thinking. However, a game of chess took a violent turn at the Moscow Open when a chess-playing robot callously grabbed and broke a 7-year-old boy’s finger and fractured it during a match.
The robot was purportedly unsettled by the quick responses of his opponent, according to several Russian media outlets. The incident happened last week (July 19) at the Moscow Open
All acquisition that advanced AI will destroy humanity is false. Not the powerful AI or breaching laws of robotics will destroy humanity, but engineers with both left hands :/
On video – a chess robot breaks a kid’s finger at Moscow Chess Open today. pic.twitter.com/bIGIbHztar
— Pavel Osadchuk (@xakpc) July 21, 2022
According to the president of the Moscow Chess Federation, Sergey Lazarev, the robot has played several matches earlier without being perturbed. “The robot broke the child’s finger. This is of course bad,” the president of the Moscow Chess Federation, Sergey Lazarev, told TASS news agency.
A video by the Baza Telegram channel shows how the robotic arm pinched the minor boy’s finger for several seconds before the public came rushing in for help.
They freed the 7-year-old and ushered him away.
Calling it an “extremely rare” case, the vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, Sergey Smagin, said that this is one of the first cases that he can recall.
“The robot appeared to pounce after it took one of the boy’s pieces. Rather than waiting for the machine to complete its move, the boy opted for a quick riposte, Sergey Smagin told Baza.
Smagin added that the boy apparently violated some of the rules. “There are certain safety rules and the child, apparently, violated them. When he made his move, he did not realise he first had to wait,” Smagin added.
According to a report by the Baza Telegram channel, the 7-year-old boy is named as Christopher and he is among the 30 best chess players in Moscow in the under-nines category.
Due to the incident, the boy’s finger got fractured, the report by Baza added.
However, the child was unfazed by the incident and played a match the very next day of the incident, as per Sergey Lazarev.
“The child played the very next day, finished the tournament, and volunteers helped to record the moves,” Lazarev told Tass.
While Christopher may not be as traumatized as he should be, his parents have allegedly contacted the public prosecutor’s office.
“We will communicate, figure it out and try to help in any way we can. The incident was a coincidence and the robot was absolutely safe,” the vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, Sergey Smagin, said.
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