Etiquette Question - Go for Stalemate or Resign?

9 or 10 straight moves with his last piece the king against a thousand pawns, a queened pawn and a bishop...I guess he has a sliver of hope.

...meanwhile...20 moves later...

Oh well...I suppose you come across these types of players from time to time.

Blacklisted as far as I'm concerned.

I shouldn't be so harsh...maybe he's a kid.

Although his profile does say he's 40

Anyhoo...

A thousand pawns says a previous poster.  

If you queen them all, then he might resign, provided you manage to avoid stalemating him.

Pretty crowded board though.

But to be a little serious, I have ceased to play the long game here for the reasons given by so many. 

I can get a long game at the local Club against a human being.

recently I had an obviously forced draw by repetition against a player, and suggested via chat that I was going for the draw, and offered him a draw twice but he refused. Besides the game result was irrelevant as far as the tourney outcome goes, and the last game in that round. I believe in saving energy and could not be bothered playing the moves or spending the time holding up the tourney so I resigned. I know he was quite within his rights to play on, but to do so did seem petty.

he was welcome to any rating points gained...ratings are irrelevant!

@losingmove: He might not be hopeful at all -- he's not saying that you can't win the position; even if he thought there was a 1 in a trillion chance of saving the position, it doesn't really hurt him in terms of the result to be absolutely sure. In that particular position you just have to be careful, make sure the pawns and pieces on the board don't create some random stalemate, and execute.

When something, such as playing on, comes at no price (in terms of the result of the game), you can never be nervous doing it. For example, if I could be safely given one cent for free, I wouldn't be particularly happy, as it has the tiniest chance of making a difference that's at all perceptible, but since it's better than no cents at all, and comes at no price, well, why not have it. Certainly if I still have trouble living I would never say "Gosh, I shouldn't have taken that one cent" since even if I didn't I would be in the same boat.

Again one can argue playing on can be "wasting time," but it's relative: just because one person may view a certain thing as wasting time, doesn't mean everyone else should share the same view or else be unsportsmanlike. So if in some hypothetical position I think playing on is not productive but my opponent does, I won't claim there is something wrong with him simply because we have a different opinion and that he is expressing it (by using his right to play on).

"I believe in saving energy and could not be bothered playing the moves or spending the time holding up the tourney so I resigned"

Sure, but maybe your opponent thought it was worth the energy. Is it wrong for him to disagree with you on what is worth the energy?

If there is a legitament chance go for it, why not.  Plus its always good to practice endgame. 

To the OP, a question. Are you absolutely sure that you earned your stalemate?

Once in a while, when the mood takes me, and the opponent won't resign, I'll carefully play to stalemate. Or offer a draw when I'm a couple of Qs up just to see if the opponent is so shameless that they'll take it

True...I won't be stalemating him. It doesn't bother me if he wants to move his only remaining piece around until I checkmate him with my 7 pieces...that's his choice. No skin off my nose.

But calling a spade a spade...a player who nudges his lone King around the board against 7 pieces is a DB.

I don't see any shame in accepting a draw in totally lost position. I don't want to analyse what's the reason behind your "mood" - I'll just grab a draw offer

It's sure that OP "earned" his stalemate because his opponent was not able to "earn" a win.

Rules of chess are rather straightforward and there is no need to compicate them by so called "etiquette". The true etiquette of chess is rather simple too: handshake before and after an OTB game, don't disturb your opponent, be nice if you win and if you lose.

yeah i didnt earn it, but now forced him to give his rook...

but in hindsight i probably should have taken the draw ofter

i had a probably drawn position with 2 minord vs a rook and my opponent gave up his rook for a minor and offered draw. I should have accepted draw, but yea i didnt and play for the win... i probably should have just taken the draw and be fair.

ALWAYS go for the stale mate - you never know your luck and you could pick up points!

Is the points material only? Since space, development and king safety also count when I analyse a position and give it an evaluation.

But since it's diffrent from every position, it's quite difficult to know when I am down 5 points. I would be happy to sacrifice a rook if my opponents king is trapped into the centre with the rest of my pieces, while his pieces are on the queenside, even if it's not a forced mate.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=66817856

Someone seems bitter here :/

He has 2 squares to move his king and a handful of pawns that will be promptly captured...

A week ago my opponent tried to go for a stalemate, sacrificing all his remaining pieces, and hoping that I would promote my pawn, which would immediately end to a stalemate.

He immediately hit the resign button when I trolled him by promoting it to a knight.