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Should I have resigned?

Should I have resigned?

Only Chess

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I have seen quite a few threads talking about when to resign or offer a draw and the importance (or not) of a few pawns advantage in a game etc. My response is simply this:

Unless you (or the opponent) are rated "very" high then play on - you never know what you can salvage:



Black to play with a three pawn deficit, would you have resigned; offered draw or played on?

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Originally posted by MCA
I have seen quite a few threads talking about when to resign or offer a draw and the importance (or not) of a few pawns advantage in a game etc. My response is simply this:

Unless you (or the opponent) are rated "very" high then play on - you never know what you can salvage:

[fen]r5k1/7p/4N1p1/4b3/bP2N3/P1P5/6PP/R5K1[/fen]

Black to play with a three pawn deficit, would you have resigned; offered draw or played on?
There is not a decisive maerial advantage despite the 3 pawns unless your opponent is several hundred rating points higher or if this was as you said a high rated game. i have turned many defeats into victories from worse positions. no resignation.

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If I was Black I would not resign just yet as the two bishops may be able to cause enough problems for White for him to drop a pawn or two.

On the other had, I think offering a draw would be bad manners. It is my opinion that the person who has the advantage should offer the draw.

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As the above people have pointed out, I would still play on due to the bishop pair, if it was a closed position against the two knights then yeah maybe think about resigning but in positions like that the knights tend to cover the same squares and each other so you should be able to cause some problems with the bishops.

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Originally posted by MCA
I have seen quite a few threads talking about when to resign or offer a draw and the importance (or not) of a few pawns advantage in a game etc. My response is simply this:

Unless you (or the opponent) are rated "very" high then play on - you never know what you can salvage:

[fen]r5k1/7p/4N1p1/4b3/bP2N3/P1P5/6PP/R5K1[/fen]

Black to play with a three pawn deficit, would you have resigned; offered draw or played on?
Played on... look like you could pin the knight and come in with a check with the other bishop or bring in the rook against the pinned knight.

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Originally posted by Fat Lady
If I was Black I would not resign just yet as the two bishops may be able to cause enough problems for White for him to drop a pawn or two.

On the other had, I think offering a draw would be bad manners. It is my opinion that the person who has the advantage should offer the draw.
Interesting, I have been under the impression that offering a draw from a weaker position is just fishing that the other side sees or doesn't see something or could want to end the game.... depending on what they want, they may have a double-coincidence of want in accepting the draw. Does not have to mean that they think they'll lose, just that they'll take the draw that was offered.

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Originally posted by Mctayto
There is not a decisive maerial advantage despite the 3 pawns unless your opponent is several hundred rating points higher or if this was as you said a high rated game. i have turned many defeats into victories from worse positions. no resignation.
Well I'm glad I hung on in there anyway since i came away with the win but I wondered what the common view on this would be.

It does come down to the class of the players involved - luckily I'm not good enough to be playing against opponents who can really make those 3 pawns count enough.

I'm not saying I played perfect - in fact I KNOW I didn't!! - I might have been able to finish it quicker, but to be honest i kinda got lost for a few moves and wasn't sure where to go with it. In the end I think it was more bad play by my opponent than good play by me that got me the win.

Here is the game in case anyone is interested Game 6208697

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You resign when you've lost the will to fight.

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I nearly resigned this game several times:




Would have been a few point lost.

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I nearly resigned before the terrible queen blunder.

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Originally posted by MilkyJoe
I nearly resigned this game several times:

[pgn][Event "Open invite"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2009.03.27"]
[EndDate "2009.03.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hampro"]
[Black "MilkyJoe"]
[WhiteRating "1229"]
[BlackRating "1516"]
[WhiteELO "1229"]
[BlackELO "1516"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "6157715"]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 b6 3. Bf1b5 Bc8d7 ...[text shortened]... h6xa6 34. Bb4c5 Ra6a1 0-1[/pgn]


Would have been a few point lost.
lol - he must have been gutted when you made that last move

i can see why you thought of resigning - i might have been tempted myself after going three full pieces down - but with 300 points on your opponent it is definately worth holding out and hoping for a blunder (or as in this case, an overlooked opportunity).

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Originally posted by MCA
lol - he must have been gutted when you made that last move

i can see why you thought of resigning - i might have been tempted myself after going three full pieces down - but with 300 points on your opponent it is definately worth holding out and hoping for a blunder (or as in this case, an overlooked opportunity).
I actually clicked the resign box a couple of times, but decided to try for a stalemate instead. Too many points to lose.

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Originally posted by MilkyJoe
I actually clicked the resign box a couple of times, but decided to try for a stalemate instead. Too many points to loose.
i can understand that - i have lost to lower rated playerslike that before and it always hurts

no retreat, no surrender lol