With the development of artificial intelligence and robots day by day, these robots have been used in different fields. One of these areas is chess tournaments. Artificial intelligence such as Deep Blue and chess robots attract the attention of both adults and children. In Russia, it was decided to use a robot to increase the interest of children in a chess tournament. The result was rather traumatic.
The live event of the Moscow Open Chess Tournament, held between 13-21 July, took place on 19 July. According to the robot’s manufacturers, due to an accident, the chess robot on the tournament area grabbed a child’s finger and broke it.
Robot broke a child’s finger
The 7-year-old boy, whose name was announced as Christopher, was struggling in the under 9 category. According to Sergey Smagin, Vice-President of the Russian Chess Federation, the boy moved before the robot could complete its move. Meanwhile, the robot that made a move grabbed Christopher’s finger instead of the stone, causing the little boy’s finger to break. The authorities intervened seconds after the child’s finger was broken and turned off the robot. Officials, on the other hand, stated that this robot is actually a rental and they have not had any accidents so far.
The explanations from the Russian authorities were not very satisfactory. While the vice president was generally accused of making statements implying that the child was the culprit, he said the child had violated safety protocols.
Moscow Chess Federation President Sergey Lazarev said, “The robot broke the boy’s finger. This is obviously a bad thing.” Afterwards, he said that the robot, which has been used for 16 years, has never broken a bone or even hurt anyone. Stating that it was the fault of the operator of the robot they used before, Lazarev said that the child did not give the robot the time it needed to make a move.
The boy with a broken finger continued the tournament after his finger was put in a plaster cast and even attended the award ceremony. It was stated that the child’s family plans to file a criminal complaint against the authorities.
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