Would You Have Resigned?

Hi - I'm new here. And am re-learning how to play chess. This game started with my black opponent coming on confidently. Then resigned. I think I would have tried to play it out. How about you? I guess my real question is when should one resign.

"I guess my real question is when should one resign. "

I did a Bloggy thing on this very subject.

Here is the bones of the blog.

To resign or not to resign, that is the question.

A regular post this one with some player complaining a player
will not resign in a lost position

Again the camps are split in a healthy 50/50.
The main argument for not resigning is you never win by resigning.
The main argument for is that is bad manners, an insult.

A middling bunch state as long as there is a chance of a win or
a draw then do not resign.

But what is a chance? How do we judge a chance?
I bet each one of us have lost a game we should have won when
our opponent had no chance and visa-versa. (in my case a lot of visa-versa).

What right does any of us have to say ‘no chance.’
when in the back of minds their lurks that blown game.

You cannot force a player to resign. It is their choice.

However you can still be creative and at the end of this piece you
will see the tail end of 4 games played on RHP where the winning
player decides; “Well if you won’t resign, I’ll do this…”

Then we are onto who is insulting who?
The player for not resigning, or the winner for taking the mickey.

Here are the creative guys who know how to win a won game.
All games played on RHP.

Dutch Defense - jankrb

I don't think I was very clear. My opponent resigned and I would've preferred if the game continued.

[Wow, that last game is crazy.]

for as long as you have ANY doubts of whether it's resignable or not, DON'T.

Defeat was inevitable provided you didn't play something stupid or drop dead. The best I can see for black is Ke6 which gives the greatest delay to mate but also the possibility of a cool underpromotion to a knight.

28. ... Ke6 29. f7 Ke7 30. g8=N+ Rxg8 31. fxg8=Q and mate follows a move later.

No doubt he saw the writing on the wall and just wanted to end it before it got too embarrassing. I suspect he'd also think it rude to continue at that point, it suggests you are such a patzer you can't work out a mating attack. I can see why you'd want to continue to be able to give the coup de grace though.

Resign or not resign? I am beginning to think we might consider asking our opponents if they want us to resign! Then, if they want to deliver the killing blow but balls it up they have no one to blame but themselves.

Oh...today I learned the word patzer. =) Thanks for all the replies so far. Very helpful.

I resign when I think the game is lost (or if I'm in a bad mood, I'll resign if I think I blew the position).

The better you'll get the further you'll see the losing postion. Until then you'll have to play it out until you can see for yourself the game is a losing position.

I ran into one guy who thought that winning by resignation really didn't count since he didn't get to checkmate me. I guess it takes people a while to recognize that a win by resignation and a win by checkmate are really the same thing.

To answer the question of the thread, if I had the black pieces at the end of the game I would have resigned too.

Originally posted by greenpawn34


So if your opponent does not resign then make pretty checkmates.

Originally posted by Traveling Again
Pretty checkmates can be fun. 🙂

[pgn][Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"]
[White "Traveling Again"]
[Date "2009.06.08"]
[EndDate "2009.06.17"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "6395729"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 3. d3 Nc6d4 4. Nf3xd4 exd4 5. c3 c5 6. cxd4 cxd4 7. Bf1e2 Bf8c5 8. a3 a5 9. Nb1d2 b6 10. O-O Ng8f6 11. Nd2b3 O ...[text shortened]... 4. Ke4e5 Ke1e2 65. Qa8a4 Ke2e1 66. Qa4b4 Ke1e2 67. Qb4b1 Ke2e3 68. Qb1e4 1-0[/pgn]

I resign when I don't want to play any more. Simples.

Originally posted by wormwood
for as long as you have ANY doubts of whether it's resignable or not, DON'T.

A pretty checkmate position:
A game I played over 30 years ago - I was 1800 he was 1300. Two games later in the same tournament I defeated my first master so it was a big tournament for me. This guy let his flag fall rather than allow me to checkmate him.
The final position was nice.
1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3.Bd3 Bg7 4. f4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. c3 e5 8. fxe dxe 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Ng4 11. Bc2?? Qh4 12. h3 Bxe5 13. Rf3 Nh2 14. Rf4 Bxf4 15. exf4 Bxh3 16.gxh3 Qg3+ 17. Kh1 Nf3 18. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 19. Kh2 Qf2+ 20. Kh1 Qxc2 21. Nd2 QR-d8 22. b4 Rxd2 23. Bxd2 Qxd2 24. Rg1 Qxf4 25. Rg4 Qf1+ 26. Kh2 Re8 27. Kg3 Re3+ 28. Kh4 Rxh3+
and here he let his flag fall rather than be put in a position where black had mate in one four different ways.

Originally posted by kbear1k
A pretty checkmate position:
A game I played over 30 years ago - I was 1800 he was 1300. Two games later in the same tournament I defeated my first master so it was a big tournament for me. This guy let his flag fall rather than allow me to checkmate him.
The final position was nice.
1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3.Bd3 Bg7 4. f4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. c3 e5 8. ...[text shortened]... his flag fall rather than be put in a position where black had mate in one four different ways.

The main reason I resign in a lost position (and where the opponent is knowledgable and thus it highly unlikely he will give me a stalemate) is that continuing playing game is a waste of time for me.

It is not good practice, for example, to have your K chased around the board by your opponents pieces into a non-stalemate sure-mate position.

Or even when it is arguably less clear, such as against a very strong player that is a piece and couple of pawns up, and will grueling and painfully win. That is not good practice either.

Time is better spent playing another game, analyzing games, studying chess, etc., or spending time with my kids.

Originally posted by kbear1k
A pretty checkmate position:
A game I played over 30 years ago - I was 1800 he was 1300. Two games later in the same tournament I defeated my first master so it was a big tournament for me. This guy let his flag fall rather than allow me to checkmate him.
The final position was nice.
1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3.Bd3 Bg7 4. f4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. c3 e5 8. ...[text shortened]... his flag fall rather than be put in a position where black had mate in one four different ways.