Sort of a follow up to the last thread about winning from seemingly impossible situations - here's the game between me and aabbccdd in the ladder tournament. I put white in check at move 13 and then all of a sudden the game was over, I was quite perplexed and it took me a moment to realise that aabbccdd had resigned. So what I, and aabbccddd, would like to know is - was this too early to resign?

Hi there,

I looked through this game soon after you'd finished it and initially completely missed the point of the resignation. After a while I saw that you'd have to lose the bishop on b2 regardless, and remain a piece and a pawn down. However, (and this might annoy my opponents!), I don't feel that the game was lost. White's g2 bishop was still strong, and after Nxd2 Bxb2, Ra2 develops with tempo on the bishop forcing it out. It would be difficult, but black would still have to be careful to maintain his advantage. That said, well played Kester.

There's enough of my ramblings anyway, good luck to both of you in your other game!

I'd say Black has a winning advantage in material, but, unless Black is a grandmaster, there's nothing wrong with not resigning.  It's possible white could use his greater development to find counterplay, but if black plays for quick exchanges I don't believe white would have much of a chance, barring a huge blunder from black.