Hikaru - Magnus And The Worst Resignations Of All Time
In the Chess.com Classic tournament in May, GM Hikaru Nakamura, one of the best players in the world, resigned in a winning position against GM Magnus Carlsen! Watch and listen how shocked commentators GM Aman Hambleton and IM Levy Rozman are as they realize what is happening.
As tragic as the moment was for Nakamura, it was not the first time that a strong player has resigned in a position where continuing would have won the game. Below, check out the five most shocking resignations from winning positions in the history of chess!
- Chirila vs. Fressinet, World Blitz Championship, 2024
- Von Popiel vs. Marco, Monte-Carlo, 1902
- Abramovic vs. Soltis, New York, 1990
- Glek vs. Lazaraev, Porto San Giorgio, 1997
- Vallejo Pons vs. Santos Latasa, Leon, 2018
- Conclusion
5: Chirila vs. Fressinet, 2024 World Blitz Championship, 2024
It feels a bit unfair to highlight a mistaken resignation from a blitz game, but this one was so wild that it deserves recognition. With a few seconds left for each side, GM Laurent Fressinet sacrificed a bishop for the attack and GM Cristian Chirila resigned. Yet, in the final position, White has a literal mate-in-one!
Presumably, both sides missed that the rook on h1 would deliver a discovered checkmate if White captured Black's bishop. This is likely the only time in history that a GM-level player resigned in a position where an immediate checkmate was available!
4. Von Popiel vs. Marco, Monte-Carlo, 1902
This is one of the oldest known badly-timed resignations. In a tournament over a century ago, Georg Marco resigned his game to Ignatz Von Popiel, missing a beautiful winning tactic. Can you spot it?
That game was bad luck for Marco, but good luck for generations of authors of tactics collections.
3. Abramovic vs. Soltis, New York, 1990
This game stands out because no-one realized that the resignation was a poor choice until years after the fact. GM Andrew Soltis eventually looked at his game against GM Bosko Abramovic with an engine and noticed a brilliant possibility. See if you can figure out what both players missed.
You should definitely not resign if you have any interesting checks; there's often a chance one of them will turn the game around!
2. Glek vs. Lazarev, Porto San Giorgio, 1997
The top two most amazing resignations of all time featured positions where all the losing grandmaster had to do was to play the next move. In fact, in each position there was only one legal move, and it would have won the game! Sometimes a check is just so shocking, it makes us give up, when continuing to play is all we need.
To be fair to GM Vladimir Lazarev, GM Igor Glek's last move was surprising and wins a bishop in a sharp variation. All he needed to do was count material at the end of the line and realize that the bishop would be swarmed by black pawns. Failing that, all he needed to do was keep playing.
1. Vallejo Pons vs. Santos Latasa, Leon, 2018
When one side has been pressing for a win all game, it's not very surprising if the other side resigns when faced with a shocking move. In this case, however, GM Jaime Santos Latasa should have kept the game going just a bit longer: the only legal move would have won the game!
This win allowed GM Francisco "Paco" Vallejo Pons to reach a tie-break and eventually win their knockout match! You can be sure Santos regretted his decision to resign, rather than continue the game another couple of moves.
Conclusion
Were you able to continue these final positions better than the grandmasters? Well, they all resigned, so if you were able to make any moves at all, then the answer is yes! It's worth remembering that anyone who keeps trying in a game is playing stronger than a GM who gives up.
Which resignation was the most surprising? Let us know in the comments.
