Chess robot grabs and breaks seven-year-old boy's finger at Moscow Open

25 July 2022, 11:07 | Updated: 25 July 2022, 11:13

A chess playing robot grabbed and broke a seven-year-old's finger during a match at the Moscow Open.

The machine grabbed the opponent's hand after he played his move too quickly, according to reports in Russia.

Sergey Lazarev, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation, said the incident happened during a match last week.

"The robot broke the child's finger. This, of course, is bad," Mr Lazarev told Russian state news agency TASS.

"The robot was rented by us, it has been exhibited in many places, for a long time, with specialists.

"The child made a move and after that we need to give time for the robot to answer, but the boy hurried, the robot grabbed him. We have nothing to do with the robot."

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The footage, published by the Baza Telegram channel, shows the robot clamping down on his finger for several seconds.

A number of spectators rushed to stop the incident and helped free the boy from the robot's clutches.

He did not appear too shaken up by the incident, playing in the competition the very next day, according to reports in Russian media.

Mr Lazarev said that the the robot grabbed the boy after he made a move and then “hurried” the robot, not allowing it “time to answer”.

Meanwhile, Sergey Smagin, vice president of the Russian Chess Federation, claimed that the robot attacked after its human opponent failed to wait for it to complete its move.

The "unique" machine, which is able to play multiple matches at a time, has been deployed in a number of previous contests, TASS reported.