When is resigning just bad sportsmanship?

> Some like it hot and some like it cold. Some like it in a pot and some like it in a bowl. There is no right and there is no wrong.

I like that :) I see it's related to a nursery rhyme that says:

Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old;
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot, nine days old.

Not being of English or American culture, I had never realized that "some like it hot" (as in the movie title) comes from this.

I also think that whether you resign or play on is up to you -- it only brings a smile to me when someone keeps playing in a desperate situation. Personally I sometimes resign after loosing a piece, and sometimes keep playing even with strong material imbalance. It depends on many factors, including my mood.

The only obnoxious thing to do is, as other people said, to just wait doing nothing for 5 minutes until the end after the situation is lost. (At least when people quit the game you can force the win -- great feature!) I block these people after the match in order no to be paired with them again.

Also I have noticed that some lower rated opponents resign too early, sometimes in an unjustified way. They are so sure that they are inferior that when something seems to go wrong they jump to the conclusion: this is it, I'm done, and resign.

To the OP: you want to savour your victory by playing it out, and if the other guy resigns you feel frustrated. I understand the feeling, but with time you will learn to be happy just because you won, even though you don't get to give the checkmate.