There was an accident at a chess tournament in Russia. A robot broke a seven-year-old boy’s finger while playing.
Chess is usually considered a rather peaceful sport with a relatively low risk of injury. A chess tournament in Russia has now shown that players can be hurt.
A chess robot breaks a human opponent’s finger
A robot broke a seven-year-old boy’s finger at the Moscow Chess Open. Among other things, the Russian press agency informs about it TASS.
The video of the incident also went viral on various social media channels. The chess robot can be seen playing several chess games simultaneously, even against the boy in question.
When the seven-year-old boy finished his move, the robot wanted to place his own figure. The boy’s hands were still on the board. As a result, one of the child’s fingers was caught between the robot chess piece and the chessboard. Several adults immediately tried to free him – with success.
Jesus… A robot broke a child’s finger at a chess tournament in Moscow @elonmusk @MagnusCarlsen
There is no violence in chess, they said.
Come play, they said. https://t.co/W7sgnxAFCi pic.twitter.com/OVBGCv2R9H
— 🆁🆄🆂🆂🅸🅰🅽 🅼🅰🆁🅺🅴🆃 (@russian_market) July 21, 2022
The Moscow Chess Federation is fighting back
The Moscow Chess Federation rented the robot, explains its president Sergey Lazarev. Although the robot was often exhibited in various places in the presence of specialists, in this case the operator apparently did not pay enough attention to it.
The child made a move and the robot would have had time to react, but the boy lunged forward and the robot grabbed him. We had nothing to do with the robot.
First, the young Russian player had to interrupt the tournament. The next day, however, he was able to finish the game – with a cast on his injured hand.
The child’s parents want to hold the robots accountable
The child’s parents now want to present the case to the prosecutor’s office, TASS reported. The chess association wants to support the family as much as possible.
And robot operators will probably have to think about improving protection to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
How serious the child’s injury really is cannot be conclusively determined from the media. While some report a broken finger, say otherthat it was not a serious injury. The cast should only help the hand to heal faster.
However, everyone agrees on one thing: even in the sport of chess, despite all expectations, injuries can occur.
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