The sport of Chess is usually related to strategic thinking and concentration and violence is no place in the sport. However, this does not apply to machines that play Chess.
Recently news emerged about a chess-playing robot grabbing and breaking the finger of a kid during a chess event in Moscow. The Moscow Open chess tournament took place in Moscow from 13 to 21 July.
The incident happened after the boy hurried the artificial intelligence-powered robot, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation told the Russian state news agency TASS. “The robot broke the child’s finger — this, of course, is bad,” Sergey Lazarev said.
“But the boy hurried,” Lazarev said. “The robot grabbed him.”
The robot reached down to make his move, trapped, and broke the child’s finger. Adults can be seen rushing to help the young boy and free him from the machine.
According to officials from the Moscow Chess Federation, per the Washington Post, the child continued to play in the event once his finger was placed in a cast.
A tournament official stepped in and walked the child out of the frame to receive medical treatment.
Jesus… A robot broke kid‘s finger at Chess Tournament in Moscow @elonmusk @MagnusCarlsen
There is no violence in chess, they said.
Come and play, they said. https://t.co/W7sgnxAFCi pic.twitter.com/OVBGCv2R9H
— 🆁🆄🆂🆂🅸🅽 🅼🆁🅺🅴🆃 (@russian_market) July 21, 2022
More details of this incident from The Daily Wire:
Baza reported that the robot’s engineers equipped the machine with artificial intelligence to play three games simultaneously.
The Washington Post reports that Moscow Chess Federation vice president Sergey Smagin told RIA Novosti that officials had used the AI for approximately 15 years. However, the incident marks the first time anything like that has happened during a tournament.
“It will be necessary to analyze why this happened,” Smagin said. “The robot has a very talented inventor — it may be necessary to install an additional protection system.”
However, Smagin called the incident “a coincidence.”
“It happens,” he said. “It is necessary, apparently, to warn the children additionally. It is extremely strange that this happened, but it happened, it happens.”
Lazarev said the parents plan on contacting a prosecutor’s office while communicating they would try to aid the family “in any way” they can.
However, after all the commotion, the boy reportedly finished the tournament wearing a case while volunteers recorded each move.
The robot in question reportedly has been in use for up to 15 years. And the victim was described as one of the 30 best Russian chess players under the age of nine.
It’s long been known just how serious chess is taken in Russia. So, the fact that a robot is playing against three children does not come as much of a surprise.
Sources: DailyWire, TASS, The Washington Post, Baza
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