When should I resing?
Remember Tartakower's dictum "No game was ever won by resigning." I've had opponents resign in equal (or even better) positions because they thought they were lost and didn't look for how to hold on. Against a determined opponent it is a lot harder than you might think to actually win a winning position and you can sometimes (often?) learn a lot more playing out an inferior position than you would by giving up and starting over.
It will also give you insight into how to best play endings. I've won a lot of even (or slightly inferior) endings by looking for the best defenses (both mine and my opponents') and looking for the most likely ways to overcome an opponent's defense. I've sometimes done it by playing a complicated inferior move (but one where I could still hold a draw) because the complications gave a very human opponent the opportunity to play it incorrectly.
Remember Tartakower's dictum "No game was ever won by resigning." I've had opponents resign in equal (or even better) positions because they thought they were lost and didn't look for how to hold on. Against a determined opponent it is a lot harder than you might think to actually win a winning position and you can sometimes (often?) learn a lot more playing out an inferior position than you would by giving up and starting over.
It will also give you insight into how to best play endings. I've won a lot of even (or slightly inferior) endings by looking for the best defenses (both mine and my opponents') and looking for the most likely ways to overcome an opponent's defense. I've sometimes done it by playing a complicated inferior move (but one where I could still hold a draw) because the complications gave a very human opponent the opportunity to play it incorrectly
Very well said. I've seen people resign after losing a big piece not realising they actually had a checkmate on the next move.
My resign rate is below 2% of total games, I believe. I virtually never resign. I see losing your queen as an opportunity to study, defend, resist. Best wins, or even stalemates, were achieved by not resigning.
Taking an advantage is half the battle, some people assume you'll give up just because you lost a rook. That's when the actual battle starts, for me.
And on the other hand, how many times have I messed it up and got checkmated or lost my queen because I was too confident thinking that nothing could destroy my advantage? It's all about focus and keeping it going.
This is not useful to think about. Never resign.
What you should think about is games like this:
Don't make random moves in 2 seconds. Don't make random moves when your opponent threatens mate. Don't make random moves at all.
It's your choice to decide whether to resign a game or not, but you can only learn more by playing on.
Usually when 2 good players are playing and one is winning by a fair amount, the losing player resigns to save time. However, when both players are below 100 elo, the losing player should play on. In short, never resign.