Resigning in a Winning Position

[John McKenna]

"... I have seen people hold out a hand to the opponent and then claim they were accepting a draw instead of resigning. I'm sure it happens accidentally, but you have to be wary of people trying to cheat."

Caveat lusor

[JustinHorton]

I have seen people hold out a hand to the opponent and then claim they were accepting a draw instead of resigning. I'm sure it happens accidentally, but you have to be wary of people trying to cheat.

I sat next to a game last year where precisely that occurred, only it wasn't accidental. However the player in a winning position just laughed at it.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Stopping the clock is normally seen (without any "unusual" circumstances) as a way of resigning, no?

That one might still be acceptable in a socially distanced environment, too.

[NickFaulks]

I sat next to a game last year where precisely that occurred, only it wasn't accidental. However the player in a winning position just laughed at it.

This happened to me in an unofficial blitz tournament at a FIDE Congress. I was a rook up in an ending but with about one minute against two and my opponent tried to claim that he was saving me from being flagged. He was a chess journalist from Eastern Europe.

Kirsan was playing on an adjacent board but ignored the mild kerfuffle.

[Keith Arkell]

Also perplexing is when two players shake hands, A thinking he's agreeing a draw and B thinks that A is resigning.
I have heard of a case where (if I remember rightly) Keith Arkell was player B; can you comment, Keith?

Sorry Tim, I only just saw this. Events were exactly as you described, and after discussions with the arbiter we agreed to play on. I guess there is no other sensible solution.

Here is the game, but I have no idea at what point Paul offered the draw:

[Event "Midland Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2001.06.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Wallace, Paul"]
[Black "Arkell, K.."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2192"]
[BlackElo "2436"]
[Annotator "KCA"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 Nf6 6. d3 e6 7. g3 Bb4 8. a3
Ba5 9. Bd2 O-O (9... d4 10. Nb1 Qb6 11. b3 Nbd7 $15) 10. Bg2 Re8 11. O-O dxe4
12. Nxe4 Bxd2 13. Nxd2 Nbd7 14. Nc4 Qc7 15. d4 Rab8 16. Rfe1 c5 17. dxc5 Qxc5
18. Ne3 Rec8 19. Red1 b5 20. Qf4 Ne5 21. Qb4 Qc7 22. b3 a5 23. Qd6 Qc3 24. Qd4
g5 $5 25. Qxc3 Rxc3 26. Rd6 a4 27. bxa4 bxa4 28. Rd4 Nh5 29. Rxa4 Nxg3 30. Nd1
Ne2+ 31. Kf1 Rxc2 32. Re4 Nc1 33. Rxe5 Nb3 34. Rxg5+ Kf8 35. Ne3 Nxa1 36. Nxc2
Nxc2 37. a4 Rb1+ 38. Ke2 Ra1 39. Rg4 Ra2 40. Kd1 Na1 41. Bc6 Nb3 42. Ke1 Nc5
43. Bb5 f5 44. Rd4 Kf7 45. Rh4 Kg6 46. Be8+ Kg7 47. Rd4 Kf6 48. f4 Rh2 49. Rd2
Rh1+ 50. Ke2 Rxh3 51. Rc2 Ne4 52. Rc7 Nd6 53. Bb5 h5 54. Rd7 Ne4 55. Bc6 Nc5
56. Rh7 Nd3 57. Be8 Nxf4+ 58. Kf2 Ra3 0-1

[Michael Farthing]

Also perplexing is when two players shake hands, A thinking he's agreeing a draw and B thinks that A is resigning.
I have heard of a case where (if I remember rightly) Keith Arkell was player B; can you comment, Keith?

Sorry Tim, I only just saw this. Events were exactly as you described, and after discussions with the arbiter we agreed to play on. I guess there is no other sensible solution.

Here is the game, but I have no idea at what point Paul offered the draw:

[Event "Midland Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2001.06.10"] [Round "5"] [White "Wallace, Paul"] [Black "Arkell, K.."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B11"] [WhiteElo "2192"] [BlackElo "2436"] [Annotator "KCA"] [PlyCount "116"] [EventDate "2001.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 Nf6 6. d3 e6 7. g3 Bb4 8. a3 Ba5 9. Bd2 O-O (9... d4 10. Nb1 Qb6 11. b3 Nbd7 $15) 10. Bg2 Re8 11. O-O dxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxd2 13. Nxd2 Nbd7 14. Nc4 Qc7 15. d4 Rab8 16. Rfe1 c5 17. dxc5 Qxc5 18. Ne3 Rec8 19. Red1 b5 20. Qf4 Ne5 21. Qb4 Qc7 22. b3 a5 23. Qd6 Qc3 24. Qd4 g5 $5 25. Qxc3 Rxc3 26. Rd6 a4 27. bxa4 bxa4 28. Rd4 Nh5 29. Rxa4 Nxg3 30. Nd1 Ne2+ 31. Kf1 Rxc2 32. Re4 Nc1 33. Rxe5 Nb3 34. Rxg5+ Kf8 35. Ne3 Nxa1 36. Nxc2 Nxc2 37. a4 Rb1+ 38. Ke2 Ra1 39. Rg4 Ra2 40. Kd1 Na1 41. Bc6 Nb3 42. Ke1 Nc5 43. Bb5 f5 44. Rd4 Kf7 45. Rh4 Kg6 46. Be8+ Kg7 47. Rd4 Kf6 48. f4 Rh2 49. Rd2 Rh1+ 50. Ke2 Rxh3 51. Rc2 Ne4 52. Rc7 Nd6 53. Bb5 h5 54. Rd7 Ne4 55. Bc6 Nc5 56. Rh7 Nd3 57. Be8 Nxf4+ 58. Kf2 Ra3 0-1

[Simon Rogers]

Sadly, although it was many years ago I have resigned from a winning position.
On one occasion, I deliberately dropped a piece because I was upset with players in a league match talking loudly and commenting on my position.
They ignored me when I asked them to keep quiet
I could hear them saying stronger suggested moves.
So out of respect for my opponent and his team, I threw the game.

[Paul McKeown]

"I recall two arbiters discussing that the most confusing thing they've ever encountered was a double resignation. What I imagine would make that perplexing if not vexating is if one player has a winning position and the other a losing position. Making sense of that would be rather challenging, and most probably it has happened many times over."

I think it's been discussed here somewhere and it was suggested that the player on the move has priority when it comes to resigning. It's a thought.

FIDE Laws - An Interesting Case

[Simon Rogers]

Sadly, although it was many years ago I have resigned from a winning position.
On one occasion, I deliberately dropped a piece because I was upset with players in a league match talking loudly and commenting on my position.
They ignored me when I asked them to keep quiet
I could hear them saying stronger suggested moves.
So out of respect for my opponent and his team, I threw the game.

I have also resigned games in the past prematurely when I thought the game was lost after a bad couple of moves. I lost confidence and gave up psychologically aswell.

[Tim Spanton]

My round-one game at Ilkley over the weekend features another candidate for this thread: https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2022/09/ ... e-one.html