Castling
Castling is a move performed simultaneously by a king and a rook with the aims of ensuring the king’s safety and connecting the rooks. There are three ways you can castle: long, short and 'artificial.' The latter is when your king and rook eventually get placed the short or long castle way, but it is done manually, move by move. Normally that’s not what you want to do, although sometimes you can’t castle for some reason, but still have to secure the king. In this article I won’t be reminding you about the rules of castling, as this concept is rather basic and should be familiar to you already. (But if you don't know, here's a video explaining it).Many people castle automatically without giving it any real thought. Not a good idea. Also, castling on the wrong side can be a critical mistake. These two issues will be addressed in more detail.
Castle long or short?
Usually when preparing a certain opening line you learn the typical plans, including a choice of where to castle. However, in real life we occasionally end up in relatively unfamiliar positions when we have to make up our mind ourselves. For example, if the opponent surprises us in the opening. When deciding, consider the following factors:
- King’s safety. Will your king be feeling safe on that flank? If your pawn structure is weakened and/or the enemy pieces are all targeting that side of the board, castling is possible only in case of emergency and after careful and precise calculation.
- Your plan. When anticipating an active play on one side of the board, you often might want to evacuate your king to the other side. This is especially true of pawn storms: you may not want to place your king behind the pawns you are planning to advance.
- Coordination of pieces. When castling, you have to evaluate where your pieces will be placed optimally.
- Potential endgame. The king is an active member of the team in the endgame. Therefore, if the queens are off early in the game, it often makes sense to activate the king and keep it in the center as opposed to castling. However, you should remember that an attack on the king is possible even without queens, so sometimes good old castling is still the best choice.
In the article “Brave kings” I have already mentioned a case when the king can be efficient in the centre. There is one more important technique. When the rook stays on h1(h8), supporting the h-pawn and participating in the attack, the king goes to f1(f8). This is typical of, for instance, one of the lines in the French defense. The king can either remain on f1(f8), or hide on g2(g7) after g3(g6).
Interestingly enough, this latest castling was performed on move 48 in two games: Neshewat – Garrison, Detroit 1994 and Somogyi – Black, New York 2002.
Summarizing, we should be careful when following the book advice “castle early”. Choose wisely whether to castle or not, and which side to prefer.
Needing two wins with Black out of two games, I was grim and focused. Photo from the official website of the EIWCC-2012.
In the game against WGM Jovana Vojinovich from the recent European Championship both of our kings had a chance to castle to any side of the board. They were like two cowboys staring tensely at each other before making a decisive shot. White didn’t want to castle kingside in order to avoid being attacked. I also didn’t feel like castling kingside, being somewhat mistakenly concerned about my opponent’s potential attack. Even White’s weakened pawn structure wasn’t really an argument against castling queenside, or performing it artificially, due to the nature of the position – it was closed. I decided to postpone castling to stay flexible and have both the option of castling queenside and placing the king on f8. Eventually, my king ended up feeling safe on f7, while the White king got slaughtered in the center.
Vojinovic, J. (2356) vs. Pogonina, N. (2449)
European Ind w 2012 | Gaziantep TUR | Round 10| 12 Mar 2012 | ECO: E13 | 0-1
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 Bxc3 8. bxc3 d6 9. f3 Nbd7 10. e4 g5 ( 10... e5 ) 11. Bf2 Qe7 12. Bd3 h5?! ( 12... O-O-O 13. a4 a5 14. O-O h5 15. Be3 ( 15. h4 g4 16. f4 g3 17. Bxg3 Rdg8 ) 15... Rhg8 16. Qc2 e5 ) 13. Qe2?! ( 13. Be3 g4 ( 13... Rg8 14. Qa4 e5 15. c5 dxc5 16. dxc5 c6 ) 14. Bg5 ) 13... h4 14. Rb1 ( 14. O-O-O!? O-O-O 15. Kb2 ) 14... Nh5 15. g3 ( 15. O-O Nf4 16. Qe3 h3 17. g3 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 O-O-O ) 15... Rh6 ( 15... O-O-O 16. Rg1 e5 ) 16. Rg1 hxg3 17. hxg3 Ng7 18. Nb3 ( 18. f4 gxf4 19. gxf4 Nh5 20. Qe3 O-O-O 21. Kd1 ) 18... Bc6 ( 18... O-O-O 19. a4 e5 ( 19... a5? 20. c5 ) 20. a5 g4 21. fxg4 exd4 22. cxd4 Ne6 23. Nd2 Ng5 ) 19. c5!? ( 19. Kd2 O-O-O 20. Rh1 Rdh8 21. Rxh6 Rxh6 22. Kc2 ) 19... dxc5 20. e5?! ( 20. dxc5 Ne5 21. Bc2 g4 22. Nd2 ( 22. fxg4 O-O-O ) 22... gxf3 23. Nxf3 Nxf3+ 24. Qxf3 O-O-O ) ( 20. g4 Rh2 21. Qe3 ( 21. Kf1 Nf8!? ) 21... f6 ) 20... f6 21. Be4? ( 21. g4 fxe5 22. Be4 Bxe4 23. Qxe4 Rd8 24. dxe5 ( 24. dxc5 Kf7 ) ) ( 21. exf6 Qxf6 22. Be4 Bxe4 23. Qxe4 Rd8 ) 21... Bxe4 22. Qxe4 ( 22. fxe4 f5 ) 22... Rd8 23. exf6? ( 23. f4 g4 24. Qe2 Nf5 25. Qxg4? cxd4 26. cxd4 ( 26. Nxd4 Qa3 27. Nb5 Qxa2 28. Rd1 Qb3 ) 26... Qb4+ 27. Nd2 ( 27. Kf1? fxe5 28. dxe5 Nxe5 ) 27... Qa5 28. Rd1 Nf8 ) ( 23. g4 Kf7 24. f4 gxf4 25. Qxf4 Rh3 26. Bg3 ( 26. g5 f5 27. g6+ Kg8 28. Kd2 Nf8 ) ) 23... Nxf6 24. Qc6+ ( 24. Qe5 Rd5 25. Qe2 cxd4 26. cxd4 Rh2 ) 24... Kf7 25. dxc5 Nf5 26. cxb6? cxb6 27. Nd2? Rh2 28. Ne4 Kg6? ( 28... g4 29. Rf1 ( 29. Nxf6 Qxf6 30. Qc7+ Kf8 31. fxg4 Nh4 32. Qf4 Nf3+ 33. Kf1 Kg7 34. Qxf6+ Kxf6 ) 29... Qa3 30. Qc4 Rd5 31. Nxf6 Kxf6 32. fxg4 ( 32. f4 Rd7 ) 32... Qd6 33. Bd4+ Kg5 34. Qd3 ( 34. gxf5 Qxg3+ 35. Kd1 Qe3 ) 34... Qxg3+ 35. Qxg3 Nxg3 36. Rf3 ( 36. Rg1 Ne2 37. Be3+ Kg6 ) 36... Kxg4 ) 29. Rb4? Nd5? ( 29... Rd3 30. Nxf6 Qxf6 31. g4 Nd6 32. Rd4 Qe5+ 33. Kf1 Rxf2+ 34. Kxf2 Qe3+ 35. Kg2 Rxc3 36. Rxd6 Rxc6 37. Rxc6 Qe2+ 38. Kg3 Qxa2 ) 30. Rb2 Rd7? ( 30... Nd6 31. Nxd6 Rxd6 32. Qc4 Qf8 33. Qd3+ Qf5 34. Qxf5+ exf5 35. Rd2 Re6+ 36. Kf1 Nxc3 ) 31. Qa4? ( 31. Bc5! Rxb2 32. Bxe7 Rxe7 33. g4 Rb1+ ( 33... Nfe3 34. Qc8 Nf4 35. Qg8+ Rg7 36. Qe8+ Rf7 37. Qg8+ ) 34. Kf2 Rb2+ 35. Ke1 Rb1+ ) 31... Rc7 32. c4? ( 32. Bc5 Rxc5 33. Rxh2 Nxc3 34. Nxc3 Rxc3 35. Rgh1 Rxf3 ) 32... Nde3 33. Nd2 ( 33. Qb3 Nxc4 34. Rc2 Qg7 35. Qc3 Qf8 ) 33... g4 ( 33... Qf6 34. Qb3 ( 34. Rb1 Qd4 ) 34... Rxf2 35. Kxf2 Qh8 36. Nf1 Qxb2+ 37. Qxb2 Nd1+ ) 34. Qb3 ( 34. fxg4 Rxf2 35. gxf5+ ( 35. Kxf2 Nxg4+ 36. Ke1 Qc5 ) 35... Rxf5 ) 34... Qc5 35. Nf1 Qa5+ 36. Nd2 Qe5 ( 36... Rxc4 ) 37. Ne4 Nd4 38. Qxe3 Nxf3+ 39. Kf1 Qxb2 40. Qf4 Qb1+ 41. Ke2 Nxg1+
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