Verbal Resignation...I Resign!

I was playing OTB and in a slightly winning position. My opponent verbally declared " I Resign". As I extended my hand across to shake hands, he took a last look at the board for a second and decided to make a move instead of shaking my hand. Since there is really nothing at stake here besides club points and ego, I proceeded with the game and lost. In a sanctioned tournament, can verbal resignation be retracted? Or is it just unethical but legal?

I would appreciate your comments and perhaps share me the rules that covers this. Thanks.

Any one with knowledge with rule?

In the USCF, the "official" means of resignation is either verbally or indicating the fact on your score sheet. Tipping your king is acceptable as well but it's rare that you see it. So to answer your question, no, a verbal resignation cannot be retracted in a sanctioned OTB game.

You can go to uschess.org for the USCF official rules

Thank you. So a verbal  resignation is not retractable per rule.

Of course, not everyone follows the rules.

Verbal, Handshake or Sign on chessboard, whatever methods doesn't matter! The result of the game is decided only when

1. Two Candidates agreed the same outcome

2. The Arbiter accept that outcome

A win/loss cant be counted (even if there is clear checkmate with full records) if neither player report to arbiter and/or arbiter doesn't receive the result.

In your case, you met  condition 1 only, so the outcome won't be counted!

So, what I'm getting is, a verbal resignation is "Not" binding in OTB. 

Theoretically, yes, a verbal resignation is binding OTB (see the rules quote from macer75), at least in tournament or match play. (In casual, "just-for-fun" play, I think most people would continue the game – after all, playing on is more fun than not playing on.)

Practically, however, if a player in a tournament tells you that they resign, and then decides to deny that they ever resigned and refused to certify the loss to the arbiter, that could be a sticky situation. It would definitely be terrible form on the part of your opponent, but unless you could prove that they actually resigned, you would probably have to continue the game. 

If your opponent resigned verbally right in front of an arbiter, however, or if there were witnesses to back you up, then the game would be over and you would win. 

One thing to remember is that taking back a resignation isn't a huge concern to tournament organizers – it can't be very common, and usually playing on in a resignable position doesn't change the result. What would be much more insidious is if your opponent claims that YOU resigned when you didn't – so when in doubt, I'd expect arbiters and organizers to err on the side of letting games continue!

Probably OP had a clear winning position, and OP didn't mind keep playing an easy game.

But unfortunately OP might did blunder and lose the game . 

Now OP regret that she didn't force the opponent to confirm the resignation. 

I'd call the referee. 

I'd call the arbiter for that one, saying that you resign clearly indicates resignation and you can't take it back once it's done.

Thinking about my own resignation in a game recently, I extended my hand and said "good game" - which I suppose doesn't really indicate resignation at all.

So, for a verbal resignation to stick, the following must occur:

1. Total acceptance from opponent

2. Witness

3. Arbiter/TD judgement

JEstey stated that "Taking back a resignation isn't huge" to tournament organizers. Therefore, in the absence of a witness, the game will more likely to resume rather than to take sides, accusation/denial.