Opponents refusing to resign

There has been much discussion recently about opponents, instead of resigning, letting their clock run down in a clearly lost position.  Luckily for me, I had never had the misfortune of having that happen until today:

After he was left with only his king vs. a rook, knight, and four pawns, one would think this would be enough to resign.  Instead, my opponent refused to resign and continued playing.  He was insulting my intelligence by making me play this game out to mate, so I decided that I would promote all four of my pawns to queens before I mated him. Mating him before doing so would be too merciful.  With approximately 19 minutes left on his clock, he stopped moving. After 69... h4, he let his clock run down.  I waited the 19 minutes to see the game to completion, and sure enough, with 15 seconds left, he plays 70. Kb2, hoping that I had left the window where the game was being played.  Unfortunately for him, I instantly responded with 70... h3, and I won on time shortly thereafter.

Not only did my opponent refuse to resign in a lost position, he let his clock run down, so I was forced to wait 19 minutes longer than I should have.  As if this wasn't enough, he attempted to swindle me out of a win by making a move with 15 seconds left on the clock.

Someone having more patience and determination than me might have let his own clock run down.  I had 24+ minutes left on my clock, and with every passing minute of my clock, my opponent would surely get his hopes up more and more.  As he watches my clock run down the final minute, imagine his dissapointment when I move 70... b3 and he loses, 43 minutes after he should have resigned. 

Surely, this is not the spirit in which the game should be played; however, I was frustrated with my opponents lack of respect for my ability to avoid stalemate and checkmate him while up a rook, knight, and four pawns.  I understand not resigning and playing out the game to the end while you think you still have drawing chances, but I thought I exhausted this hope when I traded my queen for his last piece, a bishop.

Has this happened to anyone else? Or am I the only person who gets frustrated with this type of play and decides to retaliate against his opponent?

I understand that it can be very frustrating to have someone draw out a obviously lost position, but the thing to do if it is obviously lost is to finish it quickly.  Dont screw around with the extra queens- take two heavy peices, drive him to the edge of the board, and checkmate him. 

Also, in lower club levels, dead lost isn't always dead lost.  People hang pieces, sometimes you get someone who doesn't know basic endgame techniques, basically weird things can happen.  I have lost in "won" positions before due to an oversight, time pressure, or flat ourighit head banging blunders.  It happens. 

Looks to me like you initiated the immaturity by promoting all your pawns to queens and refusing to mate him.  Anyone has the right to hope for a miracle, as they often happen in end games, and it was wrong for you to think he was trying to belittle your intelligence by playing a game to the very end.   

You displayed a complete lack of respect for your opponent in the end, and in my view, he was just reciprocating. 

That's the mentality we all would like to avoid here, I'm afraid. The lack of respect was White's when he kept on playing with a lone king, period. It's downright insulting to even hope to draw on a position like that - inexcusable, really (even when desperately hanging on to a possible stalemate, tsk tsk...).

The OP did well, but could have done even better: use your own time (like you said one patient bud would) to keep your opponent's hopes up, start moving on the last minute and promote your pawns to knights only. That way, you can really play catch with his King as a reminder of how one should portray himself when on the losing side.

 Is look like to me that both players were showing disrepect to each other. And the opponent was not breaking any rules.

And the OP was not breaking any rules either.

true.

You're allowed to promote all your pawns before you mate him. He's allowed to fight till the end. However, I find it much more reasonable to want to fight till the end than to promote all your pawns. If you're looking for people to pick a side here, I think I'll side with giordanobruno.

Have a great day!

Look at the diagram, that's not fighting to the end, that's being obstinate and pig-headed.

In situations like this, i feel I am well within my rights to to sacrifice and/or swap off to get positions that are interesting to me, maybe practicing a bishop/knight mate, so that I can still gain something from the game.

If my nopponent doesn't like that, well, he could always resign.

@rooperi

I agree that both players were within their rights. I just think promoting all your pawns is more 'pig-headed' (your word) than playing till checkmate from a lost position. As for your idea of practicing bishop/knight mates, that sounds reasonable to me. Much more reasonable than promoting all your pawns, not for practice, but because mating him earlier "would be too merciful."

hmm...

Perhaps we should put up a friendly atmosphere whenever the opponent is in seemingly lost position, like whenever he appears to let his clock run down on purpose.  If he is halfway there you can start sending him messages about any topics (but maybe avoid personal questions).  Me, sometimes I ask them who their fave chess player is, or what does he think about current global events, etc.  Try including smileys ( not this one or ) at the end of your messages to make if more effective.  And when the mood turns light, you might be surprised when your opponent send messages like ('hehe I think I'm lost already.  ok I'll resign' ... or ... 'you played well, would you like to have another game?') 

I wonder who is more stupid...him of you.Good game though.

yep, spot on

 Of course there is no way to prove this one way or the other. It's all very subjective. But I'll cast my vote with GrahamRead  and mattiannone. So I say 'spot on!'

Perhaps I should mention that I feel "You displayed a complete lack of respect for your opponent" is putting it a tad strong, but I still think the post reflects my opinion closely enough that I can accurately say 'spot on!'

Perhaps the OP was a bit immature in his reaction to his opponents refusal to resign but anyone who tries the make a move at the last second tactic is the height of pathetic and I'm very surprised that anyone is condoning this behavior at all.

My expressed opinion is in regards to the resign/play till the end debate. I need to understand the 'move at the last second tactic' a little better I guess. (I play correspondence chess.)

If you have lots of time on your clock it is impossible for your opponent to win on time? If you are in another window, do you recieve a warning when your opponent moves? The answer to both questions should be yes.  If this is the case, I have no sympathy for the OP on that score.

If the answer to either question is no, I will concede that trying to use this tactic to secure a win or a draw is pathetic. But, as mattiannone implied, a much smarter way to avoid this tactic would be to not antagonize your losing opponent.  I would also say, that if this is the case, these are problems that need to be fixed ASAP.

 Okay well first of all, since when does the opponent have to resign? Sure, he could have, but it's likely that he was frustrated at you for not finishing the game earlier.

You are the one that started wasting his time by promoting all you pawns to Queens, when you could have easily finished the game without promoting.

And thirdly, no, this has never happened to me, because I don't muck around with pawn promotions, I just find the quickest checkmate. If this involves a pawn promotion, well obviously I'm going to do it, but there is no need to act in the way that you did.

lame thread

To make this story short.

• You have 30 min on your clock and your opponent have 30 min on his clock. You agree with that when you start the game. Both of you have 30 min of your time to do with it what you like. Those are the rules.
• Chess game is over in 2 ways. Forced, mate - stalemate - insufficient material on the board. Or by agreement, draw, claimed draw (move repetition, 50 move rule), or resignation of one of the players. Those are the rules.