Resigning, otb

In official USCF tournaments, is it bad sportmanship to not resign when you have obviously lost?

Online is different and irrelevent imo. And I know it's not against the rules.

I tend to be a play for stalemate player. I'm thinking about entering my first tournament, but I don't want to be displaying poor sportsmanship to my opponents. While it's easy to say, who cares, the answer is I do.

Just wondering, since I obviously don't know the atmosphere and expectations in otb tournaments. 

Re-pasting from an earlier post:

Would you ever resign?

Depends on a lot of factors.

i) The rating/strength of my opponent => usually indicates how competent his winning-a-won-game technique is.

ii) His time control situation vs. mine (Blitz vs. slow games? with a increment/delay?) 

iii) If this is a tourney, how much of a rest-break do I get before the next game.

iv)  The position on the board. This ties closely with i) as the margin of error in terms of "losing" positions can vary from "down a rook pawn" to "down an exchange" to down full pieces.  If the margin of error that my opponent has is low enough (with respect to my assessment of his technique). then I'll play on.

For example, If I play a 1600-1800 player who is up an exchange (with no compensation to speak of) or a pawn (probably +1.0 to +1.8 on most computer's eval. scores?), while I am theoretically lost,  I certainly don't trust his technique to be accurate enough to close out the game with lethal precision.

Chess games are won by cashing in on mistakes made.... Won games don't automatically win themselves! :)

Based on the above, I'd find no fault for my opponent not resigning for the same reasons.  

At competitive play, there's always gamesmanship, ego and attitude and if you are training to play this game in a cool + calm + collected manner, you'll probably leave emotional baggage (irritation, annoyance etc.) at the door before you sit down.

It's just silly to let my opponent get to me using off-the-board tactics or feel arrogant/snarly that he dares defy the Gods of chess and not resign.  That's a personality weakness that no amount of chess training will ever correct!

Update:

To add to your point about playing for a stalemate : Once you leave the little leagues (Class C, Class D, Class E) behind,  you'll be crossing the line of sportsmanship/decency depending on the type of position.

Expecting a stalemate after a clever sacrificial combination = good

Expecting a stalemate when my opponent has Q+K vs. my K when he has more than 30 seconds on the clock => bad and you're probably not going to make friends with this guy anytime soon :)

If it was me, I would only play for a stalemate if my opponent was in a time crunch.

 Personally I rely on instinct. Has you're opponent earned your respect, then resign. Has he demanded resignation, I always find that difficult to accede to.

Thank you all. It sounds like a call it by ear thing. I'm not very good at chess, so it seems as if I have a little more leeway then players in higher classes.

I've read that learning how to win a "won" game is a skill in itself. One has to avoid becoming complacent; slips happen. One's opponent is possibly going to be to be paying even *more* attention.

As a fellow beginner I'd suggest trying to play on until the position is clearly hopeless. For instance, are you 100% sure that you could win if the position were reversed?

Whatever happens, enjoy the tournament.

Does anyone think asking my opponent if he minds if I keep playing a hopless position to understand the checkmate is acceptable? Can you even talk at otb uscf tournaments?

Granted, there will be no need to ask. But if I'm still learning an playing a higher rated player, I think it would be useful to play it out, even if that player will never make the mistake of stalemate. But asking shows respect.

Personally, I find it more acceptable OTB to keep playing than online. Online, you are wasting your opponent's time.

OTB, a game that ends early just leaves you milling around a lot until the next round. Except one time when I had an opponent really milk his clock down a rook and two pawns (with no real threats) right before lunch, and we both missed out on the free lunch provided because of it. That one was a little annoying.

TheMouse:

That is probably the most impressive stalemate I personally have ever seen.

Also, his annotation shows why otb is completely different from online play. Sounds like your acting was perfect!