A seven-year-old chess player's finger was broken by his opponent --a robot -- during a tournament held in Moscow last week.
A video of the incident showed the robot pinning the child's finger down on the chess board as he was making a move. The player tried to free himself and soon others rushed to help him.
His finger was crushed under the robotic arm for several seconds before he was freed and ushered out of the venue.
The Moscow Chess Federation, the organiser of the match, said the accident happened because child had rushed while playing.
"The robot was rented by us, it has been exhibited in many places, for a long time, with specialists," Sergey Lazarev, the federation's president told TASS news agency. "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."
Sergey Smagin, the Russian Chess Federation's vice-president, said such incidents were extremely rare, The Guardian reported.
"There are certain safety rules and the child, apparently, violated them," he added. When he made his move, he did not realise he first had to wait. This is an extremely rare case, the first I can recall."
The player suffered a fracture but came back to play the next day with a cast. Volunteers at the venue helped him record his moves.
The chess federation said it will provide necessary help to the child player.
"Robot operators, apparently, will have to think about strengthening protection so that this situation does not happen again," they added.
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