Draw, Resign or Timeout ?

Originally posted by BTigress
I am currently playing an opponent with a rating much higher than mine (+970).

Needless to say, I did not expect to win when I accepted the challenge; and if I wasn’t already intimidated by his rating, I sure was after the introduction to the “Kings Gambit”. I am too new and too poor at the game to have studied openings. (Perhaps there lies my proble ...[text shortened]...
I am confident that there are some higher rated players, that really do want to be instructive.

Game 4932110

I think that for the time being you could get by with some opening principles type of play and studying tactics. One other thing that you could do is to look for some opening moves on the internet: http://www.chesslive.de/ but I don't think that memorising or playing moves that you don't understand right away is very good for your game. Other players here, higher rated than I am will tell you different and given that they are higher rated than me they obviously know things I don't know.

But what really you can't be without if you want to get better at chess is knowing tactics : http://www.chesstactics.org/ this site is one of the bests I know of in the department of explaining tactics. You should first learn the tactical motifs, then learn to recognise them in games and after try to force them into your games.

One other thing that you should think about is to join Personal Chess Training. This is a helping experience that is ongoing on this site and is really helping a lot of people.

Nice chess!

Edit: some more links
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman53.pdf
http://www.chesscentral.com/chess_strategy/chess_strategy.htm

Originally posted by BTigress
Help.

For rating purposes, is it better to Draw, Resign or just wait to Timeout?

Trying to keep from lowering, my already low rating. 🙁

What a silly question! It depends on the circumstances. If the oponent does not move, wait for time-out - simple as that. Your rating most probably goes up and certainly can't go down. If you have lost, politeness says resign. But, no one ever drew by resigning! If you are very cynical, keep playing a lost position because very occasionally the opponent blunders.

If the position looks like a draw, you have several choices. If drawing lowers your rating, you could elect to go on and hope for a win. BUT, you risk losing and decreasing your rating even further. If the draw increases your rating, offer the draw.

Originally posted by Dragon Fire
Not resigning a clearly lost position that your opponent obviously knows how to win [b]is, in my opinion, rude. It is also demoralising for the losing side playing it. There is nothing worse than coming back time and again to a clearly lost position so get rid of it and use the time saved to focus on some games you can win.

Rating wise it is obvio ...[text shortened]... ins but you will get more rating points taking your wins after your losses so it balances out.[/b]

I think I forgot to add one of the points I was thinking of. You may think it's rude, but I like to think of lost games as like chess puzzles, you can start messing around with them and see what happens. Never in a drawn or won game would I try a queen sac with a mate 20 moves in, unless it was completely sound. You can see what your opponent does better than you, or what you do badly by continuing.

Never give up, right?