Convincing people to resign in online chess.

Yay, another resignation thread.  This one is about everyones favorite ways to convince people to resign.

Most people that ask others to resign have very bad social skills.  Typically, they start typing "****ING RESIGN ALREADY!", which does not lead to a quicker resignation.  In fact, if that person normally resigned, this may lead them to play on out of spite.  So I'm posting a thread to share methods to teach people, both online and offline, juniors and notably stubborn adults, to resign.

• It's amazing how many adults don't resign not out of concern for themselves, but out of concern for YOU.  Many players think of the ultimate pleasure in chess as the final checkmate.  Amazingly, a blunt "I don't mind resignation, in fact I prefer it" will get people to resign half the time in my experience.  Once it backfired and got me into a speech about a comeback on a high school basketball team, but you can't win them all.
• Other adults have no problem with resigning, but don't think they are lost yet!  A simple explanation of a winning strategy, or pointing out the winning moves will lead many players to resign the game.
• When trying to convince somebody to start resigning, don't tell them while the game is still going on, tell them when they aren't playing a game.  With patience and a light touch, they always come around, and why shouldn't they?  Besides being considerate to your opponent and increasing the amount of OTB players willing to play you (and online players willing to befriend you), resigning reduces the time you have to spend playing uninstructive & painful games.

I have found a stirling reason not to resign...Time per move!  If I am playing and the other fellow is online as well and the game is obviously lost, I will continue to play, moving quickly not really worrying about how good the move is...the game is lost but I am able to benefit from it anyway.

Suggo, that is both off topic and confusing.  How is randomly making moves beneficial to you?

I like to hit em with a nice liver shot, that will usually get them to submit right away....oh, wait, that's MMA. Ummmmm... In chess I just like to jab at them a bit by telling them exactly what method I will be using to defeat them.

It helps my time per move.

I find that if you use the messages box to try and start a conversation in what you think maybe their native tongue then this prompts an early resign. Usually the more illegible the phrasing the better.

ne fais vous comprendre

Absolutement! Seriously why don't  those who feel strongly wronged adopt method by artfizz and others of showing gaming  preferences in profile? Not mandatory  or inflexible of course but good indicationally, to coin a phrase.

I like to use the phrase "Turn Out The Lights The Party Is Over".  Don Meredith used to sing this song when a pro football team was losing by a huge margin and there was not enough time to come back and win.

Often, in Yahoo Chess, if I play a game-winning move, the opponent simply refuses to move, and I have to wait for their timer to run down. So frustrating! Sometimes they even get angry, and call me names or accuse me of cheating.

Having said that, I've been angry before in online chess. One time, my mouse went crazy while I was moving my queen, and the queen ended up on a silly square. It was obvious that I didn't intend to move it to that square, and I instantly requested an 'undo' and typed that it was an accident, but my opponent refused the 'undo' and captured my queen! I was incensed! I made him wait for the win (about 15 minutes), but that's the only time I've ever done that. Otherwise, I'm a gracious loser (or winner).

 This is a really interesting post.

Let me just say straight away that I resign many games, usually when there is a forced coming or I am so much down on material that I decide there is little chance of my opponent blundering and letting me back in the game. But note that when I resign it is not for the benefit of my opponent but for my benefit - I don't want to waste my time playing on in a game that is lost!

But I vehemently defend the right of anyone not to resign. People may have all sorts of reasons for not resigning. In Suggo's case he is saying that he is going to lose the game anyway, so why not make some very quick moves to get his average move time down. And before anyone starts, it is entirely up to Suggo whether there is any merit in getting his average move time down. Personally, it wouldn't do it for me, but if it does it for Suggo who are we to argue against it.

But more generally someone may want to play out a lost game to see (and hence learn) how the game is won from that position, or to practice some new defensive idea. Whatever! It's up to them.

If you want your opponent to resign and think that your position is so strong that it is a winning position - then the best thing you can do is go out and win the game.

In my opinion, just about the rudest thing one can do in online chess is to ask someone to resign. It's so lacking in class. Please don't do it. If someone wants to resign (something that is entirely their prerogative) then they will do so without your help. Suggesting that someone resigns is like suggesting that someone makes a certain move - since you could argue that resigning is a move. 

Of course, in OTB chess there are many ruder things than can be - and sometimes are - done; but that's another thread.

i'm playing this poor woman right now who said these words to me:

i will play until the end, even if all i have is one pawn against your whole army. 

my inclination is to oblige her.  but i'll probably get to bored, plus!  she's really setting me up for a quick mate.  it's sad that people don't see it.  i mean that.  it makes me a bit sad that people are so oblivious.

Your only honourable course of action is to resign with your dignity and credibility intact. 

If they are over twelve they usually oblige.

The knowledge of when to resign only comes with playing many games, & watching others play games and seeing when they resign. Many people are beginners & don't know about how & when to resign. Nowhere in books does it teach you should resign in any positions. And it's also true that beginners or people still learnng may want to see how you arrive at checkmate when they are losing big. Most of they live games on here are only 20 minuites long or less, so by the time it's in in a real bad losing position for someone, don't fault them for playing out the game, there's usually not that much time left.

That's the only way I ever learned to resign - play your beginning games out to the bitter end till you see exactly how bad your position is.  Now I resign often and frequently when in a losing game - and I'm sure my opponents appreciate it.  I've even had comments like "Why did you resign?", but if I feel that I can't see a good continuation and we are of similar rating, there's no point delaying the inevitable.  Just my opinion, to each their own.

I get more annoyed with people who when they are losing big, and the game is virtually over, write to you asking for a draw. I've even had one person tell me near the end that he wasnt really paying attention to the game, so could we draw?

People are so funny.

As in the words of the Godfather  " I make them a offer they can't refuse "

LOL "take the gun, leave the caro-kannoli"

Was anyone actually offered a bribe to resign?

In a live game, I don't see how it's so terrible to play out a won game, if your opponent has lost. I just consider that I'm proving to my opponent that the game is over. You still have to play accurately, and we're only talking about a few minutes, you know.

For on-line games it's a different story -- I think it's wrong to stretch a game out unnecessary days or weeks, if the position is lost.

I always resign when I know I'm truly lost, but I respect anyone who prefers to fight on, if that's the preference.

Not that I'm naive enough to believe that people will actually listen to me, but this thread is not about if resigning is honorable/dishonorable/should you do it/whatever.  It's intended to be about for people that DO believe it is the right thing to do, the best ways to convince others.