A Russian chess robot latched onto and broke a child prodigy’s finger during a tournament in Moscow, news outlets have reported.
Video shared by the Baza Telegram channel Thursday showed the robot arm squeezing the boy’s finger and adults rushing to his help.
The news outlet identified the victim as 7-year-old Kristofer, one of Moscow’s 30 strongest chess players under the age of 9.
Chess officials said the child player returned the next day to finish the week-long Moscow tournament and attend an awards ceremony after his finger was placed in a cast.
“The robot broke the child’s finger — that’s of course bad,” Sergei Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the state-run TASS news agency Thursday.
But he and his deputy appeared to place some of the blame on the boy’s swift maneuvering on the board.
“The kid made a move and then should have given time for the robot to respond, but the boy rushed it and robot grabbed him,” Lazarev was quoted as saying.
“There are certain safety rules. The kid probably broke them in time trouble and didn’t notice when he made his move,” Sergei Smagin, Vice President of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Thursday.
Smagin said it was the first incident in the chess robot’s 15 years playing against humans.