24/12/2017 Why You Should Never Resign - Chess.

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The end of a chess fight.

Why You Should Never Resign

GM Gserper
24 dic. 2017 3:00 | c 23 | Diversión y curiosidades
M English <

Despite severe criticism for a very high number of draws, the London Chess Classic was an interesting event followed by chess players around
the world.

After the first three rounds where every single game was drawn, many people, including the super-GM Levon Aronian, called for abolishing draw offers!

Aronian suggested to do away with all draw offers, not just those before move 30. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

One of the commonly named reasons to prohibit draw offers is a sports analogy: Just imagine a soccer match that ends after just 20 minutes because
both teams agreed to a draw! I don't want to start a discussion here about differences between chess and other sports, but using the same logic, why
don't we prohibit resignation as well?

Imagine a soccer match where one team is losing 0:3 and decides to resign in the middle of the game! Sounds ridiculous, right? But this is exactly what
we have in chess! Sometimes the spectators don't even understand why a player decided to give up, like in the following game from the above-
mentioned tournament:

Sergey Karjakin (2760) vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2789)

London Chess Classic | London ENG | Round 7 | 9 Dec 2017 | ECO: B96 | 0-1
8
1. e4 c5 2. Cf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Cxd4 Cf6 5. Cc3 a6 6. Ag5 e6 7. f4 h6 8. Ah4 Db6 9. a3 Ae7 10. Af2 Dc7
11. Df3 Cbd7 12. O-O-O b5 13. g4 Ab7 14. Ag2 g5 15. h4 gxf4 16. g5 Ce5 17. Dxf4 hxg5 18. hxg5 Txh1
7
19. Txh1 Cfd7 20. Rb1 O-O-O 21. Th3 Rb8 22. Ae3 Tg8 23. Tg3 Tg7 24. Ah3 Th7 25. Df2 Cc5 26. Ag2
Dc8 27. Ac1 Ad8 28. Cf3 Cg6 29. Cd4 Ce5 30. Cf3 Cg6 31. Cd4 Ab6 32. Ae3 Ce5 33. b3 Th4 34. Cde2
6
Dc7 35. Ad4 Ccd7 36. Axb6 Dxb6 37. Dxb6 Cxb6 38. Cd4 Cg6 39. Rc1 Cd7 40. Rd2 Cf4 41. Re3 Cxg2+
42. Txg2 Th3+ 43. Rd2 Ce5 44. Cde2 Cf3+ 45. Rc1 Ch4 46. Tg1 Cg6 47. Rd2 Rc7 48. Cd4 Rd7 49. Tf1
5
Re7 50. Tg1 Ce5 51. Tg2 Aa8 52. Cde2 Cf3+ 53. Rc1 Th1+ 54. Rb2 Ch4 55. Tg4 Cg6 56. Cf4 Cxf4
57. Txf4 Tg1 58. Th4 Txg5 59. Rc1 d5
4

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I can almost hear a club player snort: "What, an extra pawn for Black? Big deal! Yesterday I won a game being down a bishop!"

It is difficult to refute this logic by explaining that the super-GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is not exactly a class-D player, and therefore we will always see
games like this:

Player A (1663) vs. Player B (2525)

US Championship 2006 | San Diego, CA USA | Round 1 | 2 Mar 2006 | ECO: A57 | 0-1
8
1. d4 Cf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Cd2 Da5 5. Db3 bxc4 6. Dxc4 Aa6 7. Db3 c4 8. Df3 Cxd5 9. e4 Cb4
10. Dd1 C8c6 11. Cgf3 Tb8 12. a3 c3 13. Cb3 cxb2 14. Cxa5 bxa1=D 15. Cb3 Dc3+ 16. Dd2 Cc2+
7
17. Rd1 Dxb3 18. Dxc2 Dxc2+ 19. Rxc2 Axf1 20. Txf1 e5 21. Ab2 f6 22. Cd2 Ac5 23. f4 exf4 24. Txf4
Ae3 25. Tg4 Axd2 26. Txg7 Ae3 27. Axf6 Ad4 28. Axd4 Cxd4+ 29. Rd3 Ce6 30. Tg4 Re7 31. Rc4 Thc8+
6
32. Rd3 Tb3+ 33. Rd2 Tf8 34. Rc2 Cd4+ 35. Rd2 Tf2+ 36. Re1 Te2+ 37. Rd1 Tb1#

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Yes, it was the invitational U.S. championship and yet White kept playing the endgame down a rook and a knight! Most strong players frown upon such
behavior. But again, I really doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo hates the other team for not resigning and stopping the game in a completely hopeless
situation.

I addressed the subject of resignation in an old article.  In that article I shared the advice that I give to all my students:

If you are a beginner, then you should never resign: Play till checkmate. First of all, your opponent, who is probably a beginner himself, may possibly
stalemate you despite (or because of) his huge material advantage.  But even if he does beat you, you'll get another lesson how to convert a winning
advantage in to a win.

Here is a game where my student strictly followed the advice:

Player X (1514) vs. Player Y (1422)

Live Chess | Chess.com | 26 Nov 2017 | ECO: B01 | 1-0
8
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Cf6 3. c4 e6 4. dxe6 Axe6 5. Cf3 De7 6. Da4+?? Ad7+ 7. Ae2 Axa4 8. Cc3 Ac6 9. O-O
Cbd7 10. d4 Axf3 11. Axf3 O-O-O 12. Ag5 h6 13. Ah4 g5 14. Ag3 Ag7 15. Cb5 h5 16. Axc7 a6??
7
17. Ad6! De6?? 18. Ca7#

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It turns out that even grandmasters occasionally use the same approach and sometimes it works on the master level too!

Stephen Gordon (2539) vs. Gawain Jones (2653)

British Championships (Playoff) | North Shields ENG | Round 1 | 4 Aug 2012 | ECO: E92 | 0-1
8
1. d4 Cf6 2. c4 g6 3. Cc3 Ag7 4. e4 d6 5. Cf3 O-O 6. Ae2 e5 7. Ae3 Cbd7 8. O-O c6 9. d5 c5 10. Ce1 Rh8
11. Rh1 De7 12. Dd2 Cg8 13. g3 f5 14. exf5 gxf5 15. Cg2 Cdf6 16. Tae1 Ad7 17. Ag5 Df7 18. f4 e4
7
19. Cd1 b5 20. Cde3 Tab8 21. b3 b4 22. Dd1 Ce8?? 23. Ah5 Ac3 24. Axf7 Txf7 25. Te2 Cg7 26. Tc2 Ad4
27. h3 Cf6 28. g4 fxg4 29. hxg4 Tg8 30. f5 Cgh5 31. Axf6+ Cxf6 32. Tf4 Tfg7 33. Td2 Ae5 34. Tdf2 Tg5
6
35. Rg1 Ae8 36. Rf1 T8g7 37. Dc2 h5 38. Txe4 Cxe4 39. Dxe4 hxg4 40. f6 Th7 41. Re2 Ag6 42. f7 Txf7
43. Cf5 Tfxf5 44. Txf5 Axf5 45. De3 Th5 46. Cf4 Th2+ 47. Rf1 Rh7 48. Ce6 Th1+ 49. Rg2 Th2+ 50. Rg1
5
Th5 51. Rg2 g3 52. Cg5+ Rg7 53. Cf3 Ah3+ 54. Rg1 Tf5 55. De4 Tf4 56. Dd3 Txf3

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James L Burden vs. Larry Mark Christiansen

Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV USA | 1992 | ECO: B06 | 0-1
8
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Ag7 3. Cc3 d6 4. Ae3 c6 5. Ac4 Cf6 6. f3 O-O 7. Dd2 d5 8. Ab3 dxe4 9. Cxe4 Cxe4
10. fxe4 e5 11. d5 Dh4+ 12. Df2 Dxe4 13. O-O-O a5 14. a3 a4 15. Aa2 Ag4 16. Ce2 Cd7 17. Cg3 Dxe3+
7
18. Dxe3 Axd1 19. Txd1 c5 20. Ce4 b6 21. Tf1 f6 22. Dh3 f5 23. Cg5 Cf6 24. d6 Rh8 25. Cf7+ Txf7
26. Axf7 Cg4 27. Rb1 Ch6 28. Ac4 Cg4 29. Dd3 Td8 30. d7 e4 31. Dd6 Ae5 32. De7 Af6 33. De8+ Rg7
6
34. Df7+ Rh6 35. h3 Ce3 36. Dxf6 Txd7 37. De6 Td4 38. Te1 Cxg2 39. Tg1 Cf4 40. Dg8 e3 41. Df8+ Rh5
42. h4 Txc4 43. Df6 Rh6 44. Dg5+ Rg7 45. De7+ Rh6 46. Dxe3 Te4 47. Df2 Ch3 48. Dd2+ Rh5 49. Te1
5
Txe1+ 50. Dxe1 f4 51. De7 h6 52. Df6 g5 53. hxg5 hxg5 54. Dxb6 f3 55. Dxc5 Rg4 56. De3 Rg3 57. c4
Rg2 58. c5 f2 59. De4+ Rh2 60. Df3 g4 61. De2 g3 62. c6 g2 63. De5+ Rh1 64. c7 g1=D+ 65. Rc2 f1=D
4
66. Rc3 Dc1+ 67. Rb4 Db6+ 68. Rxa4 Dcc6+

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So, should you resign in a lost position or play till a checkmate? It is a very individual decision, at least while resignation is not abolished.   

Meanwhile, you can take your cue from a little bear:

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Never give up , believe in yourself

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