Is this a resignation?

Technical questions regarding Openings, Middlegames, Endings etc.
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Peter Shaw
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Location: Wakefield

Is this a resignation?

Post by Peter Shaw » Sun Feb 07, 2016 10:21 am

A question for the arbiters on here:

This occurred at a match yesterday. I was the captain of one of the players.

Black makes a move and presses the clock. Shortly afterwards he offers a handshake. I move a bit closer to see what's happening. White asks "What, are you resigning?". Black withdraws his hand and says "I was going to because I thought I'd blundered but I can see now I haven't".

What should happen next?

Ray Sayers

Re: Is this a resignation?

Post by Ray Sayers » Sun Feb 07, 2016 10:27 am

It doesn't look like resignation.

All that seems to have happened is that a player has put his hand out, then answered a question by saying he isn't resigning.

So I guess the game just continues.

Clive Blackburn

Re: Is this a resignation?

Post by Clive Blackburn » Sun Feb 07, 2016 10:35 am

This is always a difficult one - the opponent is right of course to ask if he is resigning, because if the position is not lost then he might simply be offering a draw.

Brian Towers
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Re: Is this a resignation?

Post by Brian Towers » Sun Feb 07, 2016 12:04 pm

Article 5.1b of FIDE Laws of Chess wrote:The game is won by the player whose opponent declares he resigns. This immediately ends the game.
is pretty clear although you will hear people argue that offering to shake hands, pausing the clocks, etc. are valid methods of resigning.

The problem with regarding a hand shake or pausing the clocks as a legally binding resignation is that there are perfectly reasonable alternative reasons for these actions and so if there is any doubt then it is not a binding resignation. White was quite right to double check first and then to play on.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Is this a resignation?

Post by MJMcCready » Sun Feb 07, 2016 3:31 pm

Clever gamesmanship.

Peter Shaw
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Location: Wakefield

Re: Is this a resignation?

Post by Peter Shaw » Sun Feb 07, 2016 8:38 pm

What actually happened next was that white claimed that he'd heard black say he resigned and black denied it. I was not close enough to have heard one way or the other, although the player on the next board later told me he'd heard black say he resigned. In the absence of any proof the game carried on with white being awarded extra time.

The position was easily winning for black, so I have no idea what he was thinking. White couldn't even make a threat, let alone have a winning move.

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Is this a resignation?

Post by Joey Stewart » Mon Feb 08, 2016 10:11 am

Sounds like he was just showboating his win and giving his opponent false hope to me.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

MartinCarpenter
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Re: Is this a resignation?

Post by MartinCarpenter » Mon Feb 08, 2016 10:34 am

I dunno, people do have the strangest notions at times!

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