Never give up- an example

This is a game I just finished, and the result amazed me. I was outplayed and messed up the opening, ending up with two pieces for my lost queen. I mentally resigned myself to a lost position, and decided to keep playing until I was squeezed and had no play left.

Because I was clearly worse, I did not spend much time on the game, and generally tried to put my pieces on good squares, make small threats, and get my rooks as active as possible without dropping any more material.

I had gotten my pieces to (probably) their best possible squares, and I thought I might have some cheapo draw by repetition possibilities, when my opponent resigns! He saw a mate or big material loss, but I hadn't even looked hard enough at it to know.

The sad part is that if he had offered me a draw, I would have accepted immediately and patted myself on the back for a defense well done😞

I think it's a good example of why we should play as long as there is activity- you just never know!

Just off hand doubling rooks on the 2nd looks good, except it gives up the back rank for annoying Queen checks, perhaps Nxh3 and Rh2# were feared.

No one ever won a game by resigning

I feel stupid asking this, but...

Can anyone explain why white resigned the position?

I kinda think that if black doubles his pleasure {along the seventh rank} he will checkmate white.

White cannot prevent this via Rc1 since black could trade a rook then take on h3 threatening ...Rh2mate.

So white could also try Rb1 but I assume ...Ra2 would be a good response to that.

So it seems like black maybe should have played ...Ra2 instead of ...Rb2.

White I assume is losing but I would play on simply because black didn`t play ...Ra2

Originally posted by National Master Dale
I kinda think that if black doubles his pleasure {along the seventh rank} he will checkmate white.

White cannot prevent this via Rc1 since black could trade a rook then take on h3 threatening ...Rh2mate.

So white could also try Rb1 but I assume ...Ra2 would be a good response to that.

So it seems like black maybe should have played ...R ...[text shortened]... ...Rb2.

White I assume is losing but I would play on simply because black didn`t play ...Ra2

There is a fine balance between resigning too early and giving your opponent some respect. In this game I felt Paul was playing well, had got into a winning position and deserved the win and, even though there were still may variations, I didn't see any that were good for white. My decision was also probably (wrongly) influenced by work as I was having to try and do two things at once which is never a good idea (not for me anyway!)

Someone suggested why I played Rb1 - perhaps a mistake, but I was concerned about the attack on my b3 pawn and resulting pressure of losing it, particulaly when Black can position his knight on c5.

Originally posted by Palo77
There is a fine balance between resigning too early and giving your opponent some respect. In this game I felt Paul was playing well, had got into a winning position and deserved the win and, even though there were still may variations, I didn't see any that were good for white. My decision was also probably (wrongly) influenced by work as I was having to tr ...[text shortened]... pawn and resulting pressure of losing it, particulaly when Black can position his knight on c5.

Originally posted by orion25
I think Rb2 is just as good as Ra2. Here is one variation I made after your 1.Rb1:

[pgn]
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r3k1/4pp1p/3p2p1/1Q1Pb3/P3PnP1/1P3P1P/1r6/4RR1K w - - 0 1"]

1. Rb1 Rh2+ 2. Kxh2 Rc2+ 3. Kh1 3... Nxh3 4. Qe8+ Kg7 5. Rf2 Rxf2 6. Qb5 Rh2# *[/pgn] ...[text shortened]... de of if possible, and then show the power of his material.

Originally posted by Ice Cold
Just off hand doubling rooks on the 2nd looks good, except it gives up the back rank for annoying Queen checks, perhaps Nxh3 and Rh2# were feared.

No one ever won a game by resigning

Originally posted by Palo77
There is a fine balance between resigning too early and giving your opponent some respect. In this game I felt Paul was playing well, had got into a winning position and deserved the win and, even though there were still may variations, I didn't see any that were good for white. My decision was also probably (wrongly) influenced by work as I was having to tr ...[text shortened]... pawn and resulting pressure of losing it, particulaly when Black can position his knight on c5.

Originally posted by FabianFnas
After 1. Rb1 Rh2+ 2. Kxh2 Rc2+ 3. Kh1 Nxh3 (as in your first diagram) white can cut off blacks bishop with his pawn to f4. What will black do then? White is superiour in material and can with no problems protect his pawn with the life of a rook against the bishop.

I bet a penny on white.

Nice game, Paul.

Here's another example of never giving up. I played white and got into what I thought was a very poor/cramped position and almost hit the resign button a few times before deciding to "play one more move, just in case." 🙂

Originally posted by Traveling Again
Nice game, Paul.

Here's another example of never giving up. I played white and got into what I thought was a very poor/cramped position and almost hit the resign button a few times before deciding to "play one more move, just in case." 🙂


[pgn][Event "TACK 2 Weak 2 dual"]
[Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"]
[Date "2010.03.22"]
[EndDate ...[text shortened]... Q 69. Qd8d4 Kg1h2 70. Qd4h4 Kh2g2 71. Qh4g4 Kg2h2
72. Ke2f2 1-0


[/pgn]

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
That is exactly why my opponent said he resigned.

Instead of resigning in the final position, I would have played Qc4 as white, and tried to get rid of my queen for a rook. There is still play there it seems to me. On second thought, after Nxrp, there might be a mate looming.....