68 votes
Accepted

Is it poor sportsmanship to resign immediately after a major blunder early in the game?

It is totally normal, and actually, I would consider it good sportsmanship, but that is a bit relative to your level of play. Among masters, if someone blunders even a piece, they know that their ...
PhishMaster's user avatar
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55 votes
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Is it rude to ask my opponent to resign an online game when they have a lost endgame?

Is it rude to ask my opponent to resign an online game when they have a lost endgame? Yes, it is rude, although you are in good company. In one Olympiad Victor Korchnoi is alleged to have asked his ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
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48 votes
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Game ended with a handshake

From my experience (small to medium central European Opens), offering a handshake without words is a commonly accepted form of resignation. The handshake is not part of any official rules. However, ...
Annatar's user avatar
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46 votes
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Are resignations by expert players naive?

By the time an expert resigns the decision tree may still be large but its evaluation has become simple. Players usually resign because continuing would be miserable to them and boring to their ...
Philip Roe's user avatar
  • 7,995
43 votes

Is there a recourse when a player does not resign in a clearly lost position?

If you are using USCF rules, rule 18G says the director may adjudicate a game in an emergency situation. And they can declare an emergency situation if: a player with substantial time remaining and a ...
D M's user avatar
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40 votes
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Etiquette question: a funny way to resign

No, it's absolutely not unheard of. It happens frequently (even at the highest levels) and can actually be seen as a sign of sporting spirit to allow the opponent to execute an excellent combination ...
Hauptideal's user avatar
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37 votes

Is it rude to ask my opponent to resign an online game when they have a lost endgame?

Brian Towers answered the question, but to help you understand why people don't resign, I recommend you watch this lecture by GM Finegold Blunders, with GM Ben Finegold. The gist of it is: Never ...
Akavall's user avatar
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33 votes
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Can a player resign after checkmating their opponent?

No, this is not possible. for example move the piece, don't press the clock and then resign? In particular, that loophole is explicitly covered by the rules: 6.2.1 During the game each player, ...
Glorfindel's user avatar
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31 votes

Is it rude to ask my opponent to resign an online game when they have a lost endgame?

It's always rude to ask your opponent to resign. They should resign of their own accord once they're convinced that you're overwhelmingly likely to win the game. In my case, that always meant you'd ...
David Richerby's user avatar
31 votes

Is it bad etiquette to keep playing in a clearly hopeless position?

As a general rule, if something is not done out of malice then it's not bad etiquette in my book (especially if it's allowed in the rules). So if all you do is play on in a lost position, then I don't ...
Scounged's user avatar
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25 votes
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What will/should the arbiter do if the side which cannot theoretically lose resigns?

The first thing to note is that the FIDE Laws of Chess are silent on this. Resignation at any time in any situation is allowed and immediately ends the game: 5.1.2 The game is won by the player whose ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
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22 votes

Is it rude to ask my opponent to resign an online game when they have a lost endgame?

Honestly it's rude to ask your opponent to resign in any position. The one exception may be them deliberately letting their clock run to 0 in a completely lost position, but in this case they're being ...
Inertial Ignorance's user avatar
22 votes
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Do I have the right to resign on my first move or within 10 moves?

FIDE Handbook's Laws of Chess (Section 5.1.2) states The game is won by the player whose opponent declares he resigns. This immediately ends the game. (source) Players may resign at any time, ...
SecretAgentMan's user avatar
22 votes

Do I have the right to resign on my first move or within 10 moves?

I am curious if I can resign immediately on my first move You may but the game will not be rated. Both players must make at least one move for the game to be FIDE rated. If the arbiter thought your ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
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21 votes
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Have there been any blunders in resignation?

The official source that people link to when this question comes up is Tim Krabbe's excellent blog post from more than 20 years ago now: The ultimate blunder. He collected every single game in the ...
Andrew's user avatar
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20 votes
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How do Kramnik and Topalov indicate a resignation when they play together?

If I remember correctly, they either just sign the scoresheet or stop the clock first and then sign the scoresheet to indicate that they resigned. There is no handshake, and they do not speak to each ...
Zvonimir's user avatar
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20 votes
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Is there a recourse when a player does not resign in a clearly lost position?

From your question, it seems that the governing laws would be FIDE’s rather than USCF’s. This being so, who takes the role of arbiter in your events? Under FIDE Laws the arbiter has the discretion to ...
Laska's user avatar
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19 votes
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Resignation when a draw is offered

is it legal to reply with resignation when a draw is offered? Of course. This is all that the FIDE Laws of Chess has to say about resignation: 5.1.2 The game is won by the player whose opponent ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
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18 votes

Why is it acceptable to resign?

Why is it acceptable to resign? Chess has its origins as a war game. It was used to model war and perhaps to play a part in the training of generals. In war it is standard practice to surrender when ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
  • 93.7k
17 votes

Why is it acceptable to resign?

To follow up on Brian's answer about war, I think competitive Real Time Strategy games are a very close analogy. For those unfamiliar: In these games players typically build up bases, then build ...
DongKy's user avatar
  • 1,183
17 votes

What is the fastest loss by a GM in a FIDE classical game?

I also did some research and found this game IM Hagen Poetsch vs GM Yair Kraidman in Vienna Open 2013 where black resigned in 4 moves. Black has forgotten that white recaptured with the Queen not the ...
cmgchess's user avatar
  • 2,296
15 votes

Is it rude to ask my opponent to resign an online game when they have a lost endgame?

You might know that you are playing a game that is already decided, but your opponent might not. Your opponent might not realize that the position you now have is a won endgame. Even if your opponent ...
Philipp's user avatar
  • 412
15 votes

Is there a recourse when a player does not resign in a clearly lost position?

What recourse, if any, is there? According to the laws of chess, what B did is entirely legal as far as I know. But it is extremely unsportsmanlike. You are right. The laws give you no recourse in ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
  • 93.7k
14 votes

Is it bad etiquette to keep playing in a clearly hopeless position?

It's not bad etiquette, and further, many people think(and I partially join them) that resigning and draw agreements in chess should be forbidden. Reasoning - it's necessary to expand chess popularity ...
Drako's user avatar
  • 1,125
12 votes
Accepted

How should one resign properly?

In the USA, we have to notate our games. This would likely prevent issues where an opponent claimed a draw fraudulently. I played tournament chess for years and never knew of a single instance of the ...
Tony Ennis's user avatar
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12 votes
Accepted

Why do players resign after accidentally giving their opponent a free queen?

Material (i.e. basically who has more and better pieces) is a very important factor in the objective evaluation of a chess position. The queen is the strongest piece on the board, roughly equal to two ...
user1583209's user avatar
  • 20.7k
12 votes

Is it poor sportsmanship to resign immediately after a major blunder early in the game?

You have no way to know what your opponent was thinking. Maybe the move was intended to be a brilliant queen sacrifice, but then he/she realized the flaw in the plan. Or maybe it was just a slip of ...
alephzero's user avatar
  • 220
12 votes

Why is it acceptable to resign?

Note that the core game of chess would be almost unchanged if it ended with the actual capture of a king rather than checkmate. In a sense, checkmate itself is a from of resignation, one that is ...
John Coleman's user avatar
  • 2,481
11 votes

Is it rude to ask my opponent to resign an online game when they have a lost endgame?

Why don't you resign instead? It's a question that looks like it has an obvious answer: because I'm winning! But that begs the question "who cares?" Let the game end. What happens? Your record ...
Cort Ammon's user avatar
  • 1,152
11 votes
Accepted

Why did black resign in this game?

Because he is losing the Rh8, and at that level, that is an EASY win. It is also worse than that as mate is coming in a few moves. Even without the almost immediate mate, being down a pawn and an ...
PhishMaster's user avatar
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