What is the biggest thing you take away from the game; the enjoyment of a good battle (regardless of the outcome) or the satisfaction of scoring a win (however bad the game)?

In a real tournament, I'd rather win the bad one as money is on the line. After that, I'd rather lose a good one, as it's more instructive and I can be more proud of playing a good game.

lose a good one, but only if it opponent had smart ideas

I'd much rather play well and lose.

In fact in my mental list the games where I do poorly but end up winning due to a big blunder I count the same as losses.

Ever heard of a "moral victory?"  I give myself "moral losses" all the time

Well, I generally don't believe that any win is undeserved, with the exception of perhaps some outside feature such as my opponent having a heart attack. In a tournament I would take the "bad win" as simply a win -- whether I played lots of good moves or bad moves, I did what I had to do, and I just took advantage of the fact that as bad as I may have played, my opponent failed to respond correctly. If he misses a mate in 1 after playing an otherwise brilliant game, then perhaps his priorities weren't in order, and I would still say I played better that game because I paid attention to the most important things (mating!), even if my play lacked elegance.

Online it would be different. In bullet games for instance I might try to win on time, but even if I succeed the pleasure won't be nearly as deep as coming up with a lot of interesting ideas in a long game, even if I ultimately lose. What I really don't like is losing games due to simple blunders -- it makes my play feel kind of cheap, no matter how brilliant the moves leading up to the blunder were.

"You deserved a win, but you don't win."

I would argue you don't deserve a win if you failed to take advantage of the fruits of the brilliant moves. One of the interesting challenges in chess is that we often want to play really amazing, Tal-like moves that we sometimes, in our calculations, forget the simple things like "oh, wait, I'm just hanging a piece there." You have to be able to play the really good moves while at the same time continuing to avoid the basic, prosaic, blunders. Those who can do one or the other might be good players, but by far the ideal is to be able to do both. The irony is that the missing of simple moves usually has the largest consequences; thus consistency is probably the most important chracteristic of a strong player.

I'd rather win a 'bad' game.

I agree that there might not be much satisfaction in certain wins, compared to others where you are really happy with your performance. However, there is no satisfaction in losing. You will almost certainly learn something, which is satisfying, but that doesn't come from the result.

for me playing well is the important thing rather than winning a bad game.it's not about winning it's about how you handle a battle.so playing well is more important than winning for me.  

i totally agree

Would you rather win a bad game or lose a good one?

:

If your playing for money, tropy, team and etc take the win. A win is win in this case a ugly win at that but a win just the same.

Now in the case when nothing to gain. If a bad game i will take it and be quiet about it as it makes me look bad and never speak of it again. But i rather lose a good game in this case. Playing good is always at the top of a good players goals.

win win win win win win!!!!!

Your opponent can always come back and say you were lucky. In which case you have no real response. No jumping up and down or any type of celebration afterwards. Just walk away quietly and move on to the next game.

A game of chess should result in a draw if both parties are indeed aiming for perfection.  

A win in master level chess is like a dance where one skilled dancer might misses a step, often imperceptible to spectators.   The vast majority of chess play better resembles two drunkards aimlessly stumbling across the dance floor.

Lose a good game. Because this means that you played against an opponent stronger than you, you played well, but you lost, so you can learn a lot from the mistakes you made and increase your level

Ok. Can we get a photo of you stumbling across the dance floor. You said it not me.

I'll take the point any day.

(Even an undeserved draw does taste sweet, btw... ) 

I find that there's nothing wrong with loosing a good game.  How can there be, if your opponent just played better?

Same for me.

But strangely, In tournaments, I usually lose good games...

lose a good game, win or lose I always enjoy a good game over a bad game

would rather lose a game if it doesn't count that way i can learn and get better at playing good games

but if it does count i would rather win a bad game although i can't say i would be too proud of it unless the opponet was a stronger player than me