Resigning a game? - A Controversy!

It's most certainly a controversy and has been for a long time, but I think with the development of online chess and less personal contact we're seeing both some frustration, but also a lack of understanding as to "why would you resign". Sign me up for the frustrated list.

I get it, to a point. Even if you're clearly in a losing position it can be worth it to hold on. People can turn the tables with Desperado play. I've done it. You're opponent can still Blunder. I've done that too. Then there's that old adage, "No one ever won a Chess Game by resigning".

Unfortunately, some players will take it to a painful end. That's how I got my Killer King award. The player I was up against simply would not give in and I had to do the two rook walk to the end of the board to win the game. I pretty much hate snotballs like that because he's wasting his own time and mine, for no reason other than to be unreasonable.

But there are still some gentlemen players out there. I played this game a few nights ago. As games go it's not particularly interesting until around the 35th move and the last pieces started falling.

My opponent saw it was over and resigned after I took a Rook. He simply didn't have enough material for a comeback. From my point of view it was a good game, full of give and take and a good reason to resign in the end. Rating wise we were almost equal too. So there is nothing to point to except good play and a reasonable end.

Another recent resignation was a bit strange. Again, playing against an almost equally rated player he played White and started with the Reti. I came back with the The Black Mustang Defense, which very few ever play. I don't know why that is. An historical tidbit, The Black  Mustang Defense was at one time known as the Tango Defense.

Before my medical problems I was a very active Tango dancer and assisted teaching beginners too.

But both the Reti and Mustang are known as flexible lines and can be used to keep your opponent a bit confused and wondering what's coming next. As for this game, I must have scared the absolute crap out of my opponent because he resigned very early in the game after I forked him and one of the pieces was his Queen. It should have been easy to handle but he resigned almost immediately. Have a look for yourself.

I played Black (duh, The Black Mustang Defense), so you might like to flip the board around.

So no, you can't win by resigning but sometimes you're in a position where you just can't win so you might as well be a Gentleman about it, and sometime you get scared out of game. I'm still scratching my head about that one.