When should I resign?

Question

There comes a moment where the game situation looks very bad. Is it time to resign? Or should we play until check mate?

Answer 1

Never ...

Play and fight as much as possible.

In general, as a beginner, you should play up to Checkmate.

The clock, a stalemate, or a blunder by your opponent (which are extremely common among beginners) can save you.

Answer 2

At the highest ranks, you will almost never see checkmate on the board. Resigning is a form of respect because you know that your opponent will find the best moves and convert the winning position into a win. At lower levels and in shorter time formats, a wide variety of things must be considered. If the clock is on your side, keep playing. It can seem cheap, but time is a part of the game and should be used to your advantage. Even if you are not able to strictly win on time, less time to think means more potential for mistakes that could turn the game back in your favor. You should rarely resign at lower ratings (this could be anything below 1600-1800) unless your opponent is already playing moves that will force checkmate. Mistakes are more common than you might think, even by solid players. Try to create some counter play and complicate the position before resigning the game.

Answer 3

Before resigning, you need to consider a) the hopelessness of your position, and b) the strength (or weakness) of your opponent. If your opponent is a seasoned player, and there's no expectation of his making a blunder, and you are down significant material with no compensation, then resignation is in order. On the other hand, if your position has "cheapo potential" (CP), or if your opponent has displayed sloppiness in the past, then keep playing and make him or her show you that they have what it takes to win a won game. I can't count the number of times my opponent has botched a won game, but I know that there are ten times that many games where my opponent played skillfully and won in good order. My advice? Play on until you think there is no possibility for them to make a mistake, then start another game.

Answer 4

Professional chess players or experienced tournament players rarely allow their opponent to checkmate them. Instead they gracefully resign when the situation is hopeless.

For players below that level, it is better not to be too fast to resign. When the situation becomes bad, the first question to ask ourselves is if the situation is really that bad. There could often be hidden resources that could change the course of the game. For example we may be down in material, but we may have a pawn that threatens to promote and if the opponent tries to stop it, they may need to give us back some material.

Even if the position is objectively lost, there is no guarantee the opponent will play the best moves. Quite often a player in a superior position gets carried away and throws caution in the air. Or gets frustrated if we offer a stubborn resistance and our opponent fails to convert a good position to a winning one.

Of course there are cases really hopeless, such as when we have a lonely king and our opponent has at least an extra rook, and there are no stalemate tactics to save us. In such a situation we should gracefully resign.