"Why Are You Moving?"... Robot Playing Chess Breaks 7-Year-Old Boy's Finger

Chess Match Held in Moscow
Chess Federation Says "An Unprecedented Incident"

A chess robot attacked a boy, its opponent, during a match. The photo shows adults nearby intervening as the chess robot holds the boy's finger for several seconds. Photo by Twitter capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Park] A chess robot attacked a 7-year-old boy opponent at an international chess tournament held last week, breaking his finger.

Recently, major foreign media including the BBC reported that such an incident occurred at a chess match held in Moscow last week.

According to a video of the scene released on social networking services (SNS), the robot picked up one of the boy's chess pieces. As the boy moved the piece, the robot grabbed the boy's finger. When the boy could not pull his hand away and showed signs of pain, nearby adults tried to restrain the robot. Eventually, the boy was freed from the robot but suffered a fracture in his finger.

The Chess Federation stated that this was the first time such an accident had occurred. Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told TASS news agency, "This robot has played several matches before, but this is the first accident." According to safety rules, players must wait still while the robot moves, but the boy did not follow this rule.

The boy is known as a chess prodigy and one of the top 30 chess players in Moscow. It is reported that he played another match the next day with his finger in a plaster cast.