People who continue to play after blundering a queen in the opening: WHY?

@ #1:

"...An opponent blunders a queen or a rook by move 16, yet continues to play..."

Let's compare this with a boxing match: A fighter is floored very early and suffers some cuts. Sure, something fundamental went wrong.

But he doesn't throw in the sponge and continues.

And sometimes these guys win. Is this unsportsmanlike?

IMHO definitely not. Courage is a part of sportsmanship. And chess is a mental fighting game. It needs cojones to win, not only skills ;-)

Reminds me of the black knight scene in "Monty Python and the holy grail". For those unfamiliar: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjEcj8KpuJw
There is a point where resignation is appropriate.

Hahahaha love it droceretik

For those of you complaining about not resigning, please have a good look at this game by GM Boris Spassky :
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1128360

And then ponder about the remark by GM Mark Taimanov: "I would rather resign the game than to make such a move..."

What do you prefer ? :)

@droceretik pythons, what a classic!
@achja fighting spirit is a nice quality to have, but playing on, for example, a bishop ending 4 pawns down is just inability to accept reality :) The position of spassky was probably lost objectively, but it was still full of fight
But in low level miracles happen too often, so they do well and play on
still, its up to each player when and whether he should resign or not, and I don't think anyone has the right to complain about that.
I mean its still legal right? But then again promoting to 6 knights is also legal, so don't complain about that either:)

i played a queen down against GM Hammer in bullet. so to say, it resulted in a draw. where otherwise you'd lose if you resign it.
en.lichess.org/aG1G0NYr/white#0

What I find strange is when a player continues in an endgame that I could win blindfolded. Do they not know that K+R versus K is a win? I don't know, but if I get bored I promote a few pawns and have some fun...

@ #27

"...an endgame that I could win blindfolded...K+R versus K is a win..."

Sure, it is a win. But i bet 27 dry martinis that you don't win an endgame King & Rook vs. King blindfolded. And according to the rules the game is finished when the opponent is checkmate etc.

@Toadofsky I once watched some games between 2 very strong players. One of them never resigned and still being new to the game I appreciated that. I was able to see the best and quickest way to checkmate with a rook and king.

The best chess players do not drag out a win to have fun. They just get the game over with as fast as possible.

here's an example of my opponent showing good sportmanship by resigning after he lost his queen in a game today:

en.lichess.org/cn07rM8G/black#10

:)