It turns out incredible. When it seems that nothing can surprise, there are always moments that leave you speechless. In the last few hours it became known that at the Moscow Chess Open , which took place from July 13 to 21, a robot used in exhibitions was put into operation for this event and when it was playing a game against a child, the machine misread a movement and hurt the little boy. The images show the exact moment of the action and how the boy, identified as Christopher, had to be rescued by three adults so that he could escape from the machine.

The sequence is clear, the robot executed its movements very quickly, but the boy’s speed when moving the pieces meant that in one of the moves the arm of the machine fell on the boy’s hand. “The robot broke the child’s finger; this, of course, is bad. It had been used in many other exhibits with no problem. The boy made a move, and after that we have to give the robot time to respond, but the boy rushed, the robot grabbed him. We have nothing to do with the robot, we only rent it”, Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, excused himself.

Video of the July 19 incident posted by the Baza Telegram channel shows the robotic arm pinching the boy’s finger for several seconds before a woman followed by three men rush to free him and drive him away. “There are certain safety rules and the boy apparently violated them. When he made the move on him, he didn’t realize that he had to wait first. This is an extremely rare case, the first that I can remember”, repaired Sergey Smagin, vice president of the Russian Chess Federation to the Telegram Baza channel.

Hours later, from the organization they explained that children are usually warned before each game about how they should act before facing the robot. However, it seems that it did not turn out this way in the case of Christopher, who is not a beginner but one of the top 30 Russian chess players in the under-nine category.

According to The Sun , the boy resumed his games the next day and did so with his finger in a cast. The volunteers of the contest gave him a hand to be able to record his movements. The robot had measured three other participants prior to the incident with the boy, whose parents are considering filing a complaint: “Robot operators will have to think about reinforcing protection so that this situation does not happen again,” Lazarev said.

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