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| Black to play and lose in Marc Norden (1690) - Spanton (1855), Biel Special Corona Amateur Tournament Round 8 |
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I had been a pawn up for much of the game, but my Dutch opponent had the bishop-pair and pressure. He was able to swop off into a late-middlegame/ending of a pair of rooks and opposite-coloured bishops.
I was able to get a pair of rooks off and thought (correctly) I had decent chances of pushing for a win. But I badly misplayed it and ended up having to sac a pawn to prevent myself losing on the kingside, and then had to force an exchange of the final pair of rooks to make the position a dead draw.
But I was determined to create winning chances, and I did, but not for me ...
55...h5??
I now expected 56.gxh6 Kxf6 57.Bc7 g5, hoping to somehow magic a win.
Can you see, as I saw after making my 55th move, what is wrong with this sequence?
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56.gxh6 Kxf6 57.Bd4+
There have been no handshakes at the chess festival, for obvious reasons, but I now held out my hand. However, before I could get out my resignation (57...Kf7 loses to 58.h7), MN said words to the effect of: "Yes, it's been drawn for a long time - you cannot make progress. It's a draw." I was so stunned I cannot recall my exact words, but instead of just accepting his implicit draw offer, I said something like: "You are offering a draw?" And he repeated that there was nothing left in the position, so we agreed a draw and signed the scoresheets.
We had enjoyed quite a friendly chat before the game, and now MN suggested going for a drink. I plucked up the courage to show him White's win, which he took with good grace (perhaps because he had already gained 43.4 Fide elo before today's round), and I offered to pay for the drinks.
Over a beer at a nearby bar, MN revealed the secret of his success at Biel. He reckoned he would never have normally come here, but did so and was by himself rather than with a group, so the drink I bought him was his first of the festival. Normally, he explained, he would have enjoyed some serious socialising.
At the back of my mind a little voice is saying: "You held out your hand to resign - that should have counted, so the result should be 1-0 rather than ½–½." My reply is that my opponent did not accept my resignation, so a draw is fair enough. I am not sure whom to believe.
Ouch!
ReplyDeleteOK, Tim, my take is that strictly speaking you resigned by offering your hand with the intention of resigning. That ended the game (or should have done), so any subsequent discussion about draws was too late to over-rule the resignation. As far as I am aware, resignation doesn’t have to be in any particular form (eg laying down one’s king or saying “I resign”). The crucial point is that the act of resignation should be intended as such (so knocking over one’s king accidentally when trying to move the queen wouldn’t count). And, from what you say, this seems to have been the case in your game.
Personally, I think it is irrelevant that your opponent did not “accept” your resignation. I am not aware of any obligation for a resignation to be formally accepted. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible to resign when one’s opponent is away from the board (eg by stopping the clock and unilaterally notifying the result to an arbiter).
The above is purely my gut instinct, I haven’t looked at the rule book so I don’t know what an arbiter’s view would be. And whether, in your shoes, I would actually have done anything differently to you, I haven't a clue!
The moral, I suppose, is that if one’s opponent offers their hand without comment, you should always ask “Are you resigning?”. Unless, perhaps, you have a bare king against your opponent’s two knights, in which case the question might just look cheeky!
I am curious, but in your post-match drink were you bold enough to explain that you had been intending to resign when holding out your hand?
Martyn
Thanks Martyn. No, I did not tell him I had been trying to resign. I already felt bad enough about showing him the win!
ReplyDeleteHaving thought about it some more, I wonder if in retrospect he thought my holding out my hand was an attempt to trick him into a draw It would be a very reasonable way for him to think, considering that, after we agreed a draw, I almost immediately showed him how he could have won. If he did think along these lines, then he is to be commended all the more for how he conducted himself after the game.
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