In Flight Chess

[MJMcCready]

Greetings all, I recently flew to Dubai and Jakarta and noticed that on both flights they had the same chess program in the games section called 'Kasparov Checkmate, or something like that ( I just looked at the picture of him rather than the name. I gave it a game but found it rather cumbersome with the keypad, and sometimes even making a simple pawn move was tricky. In the end I lost interest and watched Star Wars instead. Does anyone else bother playing that program whilst mid air? Compared to what I use "Lucas" its pretty drab in terms of options and appearance.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I've used in-flight computer chess programs. They tend to be easy to beat (I suppose it has been set at a low playing strength level on the assumption that you want Joe average public to have a reasonable game). For serious chess players, reading a chess magazine or solving problems is a better use of time (or indeed, watching a film). Or using your own portable chess computer if you have one. It is interesting seeing how many people around you or that you can see around you, use the chess program. I wonder if the airlines have stats on how much the various games get used by their passengers? I suspect they would have film viewing stats, but not game usage so much.

[Mike Gunn]

I've played the program referred to on a long haul flight. I found it very unfriendly, not accepting the moves I was trying to make, I couldn't take back moves entered in error and the program proceeded to beat me. I declined to give this (ill mannered) opponent a return match.

[MJMcCready]

There seemed to be a 'play another passenger option' but I couldn't get it working.

[MJMcCready]

But as mentioned, its just for casual players who want to while (sic?) away and hour or two.

[Michael Farthing]

But as mentioned, its just for casual players who want to while (sic?) away and hour or two.

Regarding the sic.

This would, of course, easily be answered by consulting Google

While away vs. wile away

The phrase meaning to pass time idly is while away. It is older and more logical than wile away. But because the second phrase occurs so frequently, it is now included in many dictionaries and is rarely considered incorrect.

The OED has instances of while away going back to the early 18th century. The phrase employs a now archaic sense of while—namely, to fill up the time. Today, while is used only as a noun or conjunction (except in while away), and because 21st-century English speakers not used to seeing while as a verb, it’s easy to assume that wile away is the correct phrase.

But wile is mainly a noun—meaning (1) trickery, cunning; (2) a disarming or seductive manner; (3) or a trick intended to deceive—and it’s occasionally used as a verb meaning to influence by wile. None of these definitions has anything to do with idly passing time, so wile away doesn’t make logical sense. Again, however, it is now a conventionalized misspelling, and only the most persnickety readers will think it wrong.

[MJMcCready]

yes I know that but its a short reply and I can't be bothered to go checking via google, it really isn't that important, however, correction noted.

[Michael Farthing]

Oh my full apologies! I muddled you with another poster for some reason, who in another thread made a similar comment to Soheil Hooshdaran. So it was a (misplaced) gentle dig but not intended to be in any way nasty.

[John McKenna]

No need to apologise to him.

But you can safely leave all the nastiness to him.

He's been probably been aboard in the sun for too long and gone doolally.

[MJMcCready]

Mot at all, occasionally a bad habit resurfaces where I have a drink or two (or more) at home and then go on line, sometimes spouting utter nonsense. Apologies to all, for what's worth I feel pretty embarrassed the morning after. No harm or malice intended on my part, I'm not like that, I just get a bit silly at times.

[Michael Farthing]

So you're a bit like John McKenna then?

[John and I have had a couple of ding dongs, but I think we've come to a modus operandi now].

[JustinHorton]

vivendi?

[Michael Farthing]

Yeah OK vivendi.

[John McKenna]

I can live with that... and anyone who offers an apology.
Had to apologise myself here at times.

Always prepared to accept constructive criticism.
Even ready to do a bit of it to myself.
Yes, I'm often too 'clever' for my own good when amusing myself by playing with words.
Thanks for the reminder, MJ, that other people read what's posted here.

[James Coleman]

I played the Kasparov checkmate about a week ago and yes it was a total joke even on the hardest setting. I knew it probably wasn't going to be great when I saw it was registered year 2001 or something.

Bizarrely, I then changed planes at Muscat and the next plane, despite being the same airline had a different program with customisable time controls rather than levels, and this one I couldn't touch! The guy in the seat next to me probably thought I was a right patzer!