Players don't realise that we have the right to play until checkmate, we don't have to resign

I got situations where I was in a clearly losing position and the opponent wrote "gg" to me while I was still desprately thinking if there are ways to salvage the situation.

That is not a violation of platform rules on it's own but it's a 100% "Block player forever" decision for me.

And yes, you can disable chat or play in ZEN mode. That's a radical decision.

@discoooooord said ^

You don't learn much after your first major mistake. I guess you can make another mistake again in the same game and learn some more...... instead of just resigning and starting up another game. But ok.
The point is, you resigning is beneficial to both you and the opponent, unless elo really matters so much to you.

Its a firm disagree from me. I've won and drawn many a game where at one stage i was dead lost and I've learnt so much from those games that I would not have if I'd have just quit.

At expert/master level then I'm sure resignation comes much easier since its increasingly unlikely your opponent will let you back in the game, but down at our levels mistakes come thick and fast and there is still much to play for if there are any complications

Regardless, if the game is as lost as it seems then surely mate cannot be far away for the leading player.

One of my best memories is playing someone online that I knew in real-life, a rather irritating chap with an inflated opinion of himself.

He got the lead and we were both low on time but was not able to actually mate (he didn't seem to know how, analysis after shows he had /many/ M-in 2's) . Instead of even trying he was just making fast moves expecting me to resign and ended up blundering stalemate.

He had an argument very similar to the one being put forward here, it was disrespectful not to resign. My counter argument was it was disrespectful for him not to continue with his mate in 2, and instead drag the game out.

I treasure denying this chap the win

@discoooooord said ^

It's quite rare, most players have good sportsmanship and don't say anything. But sometimes they will decide that when they're winning, it's bad sportsmanship not to resign. Using the chat to tell players to resign and give verbal abuse should be against lichess policy.

While its not a strict rule you have to resign a match, its proper etiquette absoulutely. In fact, lichess gives you warnings for letting the clock run out instead of resigning in a lost position. Please resign at least when exactly you're completely outplayed, playing further does not add anything to the game, wastes both players time, and any chances of you winning is dependent on the opponent making a lousy error, or having irl issues.

I've watched lots of chess players. The ones who play quickly, blunder early with most of their time left, resign like it's nothing, and jump straight into a new game without analyzing the last one? They're the ones who almost never improve.

Fighting for a win in every game isn't a waste of time.

reshevsky had two pieces for the queen in a complicated position. ( that's roughly a piece behind )
that is by no means referring to

exactly completely outplayed

when you have nothing more to reasonably fight with, like a full, whole, entire queen behind, it doesn't make much sense to waste time.

tee kay oh - you throw the towel.

mate can still be far away like 15 moves or more when you have to bring a pawn majority to turn into a queen, or when you have to capture a far away pawn with the King first

only absolute beginners then not yet see how clearly it's lost

It would be sporting to resign in a totally lost position instead of wasting one's opponent's time, but playing on is not against the rules of chess. No use arguing about "etiquette" and "obligations", is there?

#48: ...Except that no one is wasting your time. Chess is a hobby; it is something that we use to waste time with. If someone wishes to play until the end, then there is nothing unsportsmanlike about that. If you believe that by playing the game you both agreed to play, your opponent is wasting your time, then it seems that you think you are something special; a person of high importance.

@shadow1414

My point was that it's not against the rules so resign or not, one can do however one likes.

Title is true and that’s why I lost in my latest game. Expected my opponent to quit any second then I lost on time.

edit

How to insert a game?

[Event "Hourly SuperBlitz Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/5Wa9MkcQ"]
[Date "2026.03.04"]
[Round "-"]
[White "s_slv59"]
[Black "JuergenWerner"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "5Wa9MkcQ"]
[UTCDate "2026.03.04"]
[UTCTime "10:54:43"]
[WhiteElo "1875"]
[BlackElo "1621"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+2"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-2"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[Opening "Scotch Game"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]

1. e4 { [%clk 0:03:00] } 1... e5 { [%clk 0:03:00] } 2. Nf3 { [%clk 0:03:00] } 2... Nc6 { [%clk 0:02:59] } 3. d4 { [%clk 0:02:59] } 3... exd4 { [%clk 0:02:58] } 4. Nxd4 { [%clk 0:02:59] } { C45 Scotch Game } 4... h6 { [%clk 0:02:56] } 5. c4 { [%clk 0:02:56] } 5... Nf6 { [%clk 0:02:55] } 6. Nxc6 { [%clk 0:02:54] } 6... bxc6 { [%clk 0:02:53] } 7. e5 { [%clk 0:02:53] } 7... Ne4 { [%clk 0:02:47] } 8. Qd4 { [%clk 0:02:36] } 8... Nc5 { [%clk 0:02:43] } 9. b4 { [%clk 0:02:33] } 9... Ne6 { [%clk 0:02:42] } 10. Qd1 { [%clk 0:02:29] } 10... Bxb4+ { [%clk 0:02:40] } 11. Bd2 { [%clk 0:02:28] } 11... Be7 { [%clk 0:02:38] } 12. Nc3 { [%clk 0:02:26] } 12... d5 { [%clk 0:02:35] } 13. cxd5 { [%clk 0:02:22] } 13... cxd5 { [%clk 0:02:34] } 14. Bd3 { [%clk 0:02:12] } 14... c6 { [%clk 0:02:32] } 15. O-O { [%clk 0:02:12] } 15... a5 { [%clk 0:02:31] } 16. f4 { [%clk 0:02:11] } 16... Ba6 { [%clk 0:02:29] } 17. Bxa6 { [%clk 0:02:08] } 17... Rxa6 { [%clk 0:02:28] } 18. Qe2 { [%clk 0:02:05] } 18... Ra8 { [%clk 0:02:23] } 19. f5 { [%clk 0:02:04] } 19... Nc7 { [%clk 0:02:13] } 20. e6 { [%clk 0:02:02] } 20... O-O { [%clk 0:02:07] } 21. Qg4 { [%clk 0:01:53] } 21... fxe6 { [%clk 0:02:04] } 22. Bxh6 { [%clk 0:01:46] } 22... Bf6 { [%clk 0:01:49] } 23. fxe6 { [%clk 0:01:45] } 23... Bxc3 { [%clk 0:01:25] } 24. Rac1 { [%clk 0:01:39] } 24... Be5 { [%clk 0:01:19] } 25. Rxc6 { [%clk 0:01:31] } 25... Rxf1+ { [%clk 0:01:17] } 26. Kxf1 { [%clk 0:01:30] } 26... Qf6+ { [%clk 0:01:13] } 27. Ke2 { [%clk 0:01:23] } 27... Qxh6 { [%clk 0:01:12] } 28. Qf5 { [%clk 0:01:03] } 28... Qf4 { [%clk 0:01:06] } 29. Qxf4 { [%clk 0:00:43] } 29... Bxf4 { [%clk 0:01:05] } 30. g3 { [%clk 0:00:43] } 30... Be5 { [%clk 0:01:02] } 31. e7 { [%clk 0:00:39] } 31... Re8 { [%clk 0:00:57] } 32. Rc5 { [%clk 0:00:35] } 32... Rxe7 { [%clk 0:00:54] } 33. Kd3 { [%clk 0:00:34] } 33... Bd6 { [%clk 0:00:43] } 34. Rxa5 { [%clk 0:00:32] } 34... Re4 { [%clk 0:00:33] } 35. a4 { [%clk 0:00:28] } 35... Kf7 { [%clk 0:00:32] } 36. Ra7 { [%clk 0:00:27] } 36... Ke6 { [%clk 0:00:30] } 37. Ra5 { [%clk 0:00:26] } 37... Ke5 { [%clk 0:00:27] } 38. Ra7 { [%clk 0:00:22] } 38... Rd4+ { [%clk 0:00:21] } 39. Ke3 { [%clk 0:00:21] } 39... Ne6 { [%clk 0:00:09] } 40. Kf3 { [%clk 0:00:15] } 40... Nc5 { [%clk 0:00:07] } 41. a5 { [%clk 0:00:14] } { White wins on time. } 1-0