# What TV show was this scene from? Staring contest ends with checkmate.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-show-was-this-scene-from-staring-contest-ends-with-checkmate/780519>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 23, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-show-was-this-scene-from-staring-contest-ends-with-checkmate/780519 "2017-02-23T01:05:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-show-was-this-scene-from-staring-contest-ends-with-checkmate/780519/1 "2017-02-23T01:05:09Z")

</div>

I believe it was a TV show, not a movie.

Two men, older, are having either a staring contest or a “keep as still as you can” contest, where they can not move or talk. It’s been going on for a really long time. Finally, one of the men moves.

The other man, the winner, looks at the chess board that has been in the room the entire time. He takes a piece, moves it, and says, “Check mate.”

When asked how he did that, he tells another character that during the contest, he had been looking at the chess board calculating every move possible and figuring out if any mate possibility existed.

What was this from? Probably late 80’s or early 90’s.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-show-was-this-scene-from-staring-contest-ends-with-checkmate/780519/2 "2017-02-24T14:17:55Z")

</div>

I either stumped you all or my title was too boring. Or both.

I’m bumping just the once. If no one remembers it, it must be just me. 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-show-was-this-scene-from-staring-contest-ends-with-checkmate/780519/3 "2017-02-24T17:25:27Z")

</div>

There were sketches _a bit_ like this in both of the British 90s comedy shows Absolutely and Big Train. The stare out sketches in the latter were animated, though the rest of the show was live action.