Horrifying moment chess robot breaks seven-year-old opponents fingers

Chess is all about testing minds with strategic thinking, so it's fair to say the game isn't exactly associated with violence - though one seven-year-old who was up against a robotic opponent may disagree...

It seems a chess-playing robot didn't take too kindly to the child's quick moves as it grabbed and broke his finger during a match in Moscow on July 19, according to Russian media reports.

What's more, a clip of the incident was captured and posted on Baza Telegram channel where the footage showed how the robot grabbed onto the child's finger for several seconds as a woman and a group of men rush to help free the boy from the robot's grasp and when freed they leave the scene.

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The boy named Christopher was one of the 30 best chess players in the Russian capital in the under-nines category, Baza has said.

After the incident, Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the TASS news agency what happened and noted the robot had safely played in previous exhibitions before.

"The robot broke the child’s finger,” he said. "This is of course bad."

As a result of the grab, Christopher's finger was put in a plaster cast but the mishap certainly didn't put him off from competing in the tournament as Lazarev told Tass: "The child played the very next day, finished the tournament, and volunteers helped to record the moves."

While Christopher bounced back from his robot run-in, it appears his parents are not happy about the incident as it has been reported by The Guardian they have contacted the public prosecutor’s office.

Lazarev added how the young chess player “made a move, and after that we need to give time for the robot to answer, but the boy hurried and the robot grabbed him," but noted that the robot’s suppliers were “going to have to think again”.

Sergey Smagin, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation has said when Christopher made his move "he did not realise he first had to wait."

“There are certain safety rules and the child, apparently, violated them," he explained, and said the incident was "an extremely rare case, the first I can recall."

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