Well, if it is my first time playing someone, how should I know they are able to mate me... who knows I could go for a stalemate.  If it's someone I've played before, or the person is just plain handing me my ass... I resign and I have no problem with it.  Sometimes it is good to play out the end game (it's still good pratice even if your losing)  But really I think everyone has their own standards and I think thats fine, no one should feel as if they have to resign, imagine if sports teams did that... they sorta do put in 2nd or 3rd string players but they don't just pack up and leave they finish the game.

Yes

I know when to resign.

   I will resign if I have a hopeless position

  If I'm down lots of material for no good reason and have no counter play, my king is in bad position,

I'd most likely resign.

    But remember, if your oppenent has lots of material on the board, and I have locked pawns, I might not resign because stalemate chances.

 

It should be noted that asking your opponent to resign is 100x less classy then not resigning a lost position.  I may be thinking that the guy who insists on playing out his king vs, my king+queen is a bozo, but I would not say anything.

it depends on the competency of my opponent...

I usually resign before 40 moves but never after that.

I resign when I'm absolutely sure I going to loose the game. When is that?: well, when te mating net is so obvious that anybody can see it. Is just that simple.

I have been played games being material down and many times I was tempted to resing (and I did a few times) but I set up, walk around, wash my face and sit down again. And I just continue playing. I finally resinged most of the games, but I was able to draw and even won a few!. That's way you have to resign at the very last moment (or just let your opponent give the checkmate).

Agree wit Reb.

It's just not fair to think that if someone has managed to build a position with a queen of advantage, he won't be able to finish it.

I think as a matter of etiquette it would be both wise and polite to resign in the described situation, unless I had a sure plan for drawing or winning, and I would gladly accept the offer of a new game. Usually if I see that I can't offer a real challenge and/or if I have no hope for winning I will resign.

Loomis wrote: I would rather resign one move too late than one move too early.

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 I would rather win!

I resign when there is nothing constructive to do.  If I can better my position, I will, but if I'm leaving my win up to my opponent, I'll resign.

I agree, if you know you are going to lose whether due to postions of your opponent or the lack of position by me

A good rule I have is, when my counterplay is 0%, or if I just blundered, or checkmate is clearly imminant. I recently had someone resign that should have not, but for every one of those that happen we have games where someone should resign sooner.

Ethically, I think the topic of asking someone to resign has been covered in other threads. However, announcing checkmate in X moves, or you just hung your queen I think is acceptable. If you are playing someone that plays it out to the 800th move, it is his game too.

I resign when I see no hope in my position. For example, a quiet situation with significant material disadvantage, or looming checkmate. It always varies, I don't have a "hard" rule since I've sometimes played on with heavy material disadvantage and some tactical tricks.

 

The more I play, the more I realize resigning timely and starting a new game instead of playing on a K Vs. K and two pawns is worth it. 

This being said, I am currently playing a correspondance game (not on here) where I had a severe positional disadvantage and am slightly behind in material.  Considering that both myself and my opponent made multiple blunders in the first dozen or so moves, I've stuck with it and played a sharper game.  I'm pretty convinced that  at this point I could turn a loss of tempo into a win or at least a draw, and I was seriously considering resigning not too long ago.  I don't think it's in anyone's best interest to play out a sorely lost position, but at my current low skill level (and that of my opponent) leads me to think I am right in playing this one out.

If your opponent shows weakness (especially blunders) then by all means play on.

I personally think the best time to resign is right after checkmate.  Why is it that of all the sports in the world chess is the only one where people want you to quit?  Is it because people are too lazy or not intelligent enough to checkmate someone?

Doesn't softball and/or non-professional baseball have some sort of mercy rule to end the game if one team is leading by a large margin? Also i think in track, if a person gets "lapped," the person is out.

it defends, but if my opponents say PLEASE

queenie wrote: I am playing a game which by rights, I should never win with what I have left on the board, a long while back, when the game really was a draw,  I ask the guy shall we call it a draw or should I just keep chasing him round the board, but he said he wanted me to keep chasing him, so 83 moves later he has still not checked me, and we are still moving around.

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I agree with Gert-Jan. When you know its a draw you should resign.