Why You Shouldn't Resign

Chess: jayanth_br vs AssaultingChicken - 137286224938 - Chess.com

This game is an example of why you should almost never resign. At the beginning I thought I already lost but I didn't resign; I kept hoping for luck and near the end, the game kinda switched sides at the end. I hope this post helps

Thank you

np

Untrue.

Let me explain myself:

If or whenever you do play a slow tournament OTB during 9 days or so, there is an energy management issue.

Wasting time and energy on games so totally lost that all you can hope for is something very unlikely to happen (like a heart attack, a stroke, a meteorite smashing your opponent's head etc) you're then not doing yourself a favour, and do actually reduce your chances for the games to come.

Regarding your chances to score better than zero in the next game you'll play in such a tournament, it's sure a much better idea to go do relaxing things and have a proper rest.

There is also the problem of what is at stake.

If it's ,nothing or close to nothing, again, you're not doing yourself a favour by forcing yourself to remain, every time you find yourself in a desperate game, playing for long as your body and your brain endure bad stress and damaging brain chemicals (like endorphines, adrenaline, and so on).

By forcing yourself to pile up through many games, hours and hours of pointless suffering, don't be surprised if, sooner than should, you, some day, reach a stage where your entire being will reject chess, as a useless source of pain and discomfort.

Last but not least, you may want to ask yourself where the need to convince others to do the same questionable thing that you do, is coming from.

That's why I said "almost"

if you don't have sufficient material then might as well resign

most of the time it's best to not resign... if you feel confident that you can fight back

I once played a game as black that went from +M9 to 0-1 in about 15 moves.

I kid you not, it was almost as though my opponent's brain just fell out of his head the moment he had already won. He suddenly played something like three blunders in a row, then (after my king ran halfway across the board to safety) allowed my pawn to promote unopposed, despite having at least seven different ways to stop it. Also, that preventable pawn promotion was checkmate.

I've seen many cases of getting complacent when you're winning, with disastrous results. I've even done it myself. But I don't think I've ever seen it to that much of an extent. I've certainly come fairly close, but this was something else.

To this day, I consider it one of the most unsatisfying wins I've ever had. I love a good comeback, but I honestly think he threw the game on purpose.

Maybe he got interrupted or smth. Like maybe one of his younger siblings (if he has and lives with one) just took over

Exactly.

Pressuring low rated players to resign, using some very questionable arguments is just gross.

You should ask yourself why you are doing it, again and again.