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| Posted by drtimer ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 06:05:04 play online chess |  Subject: castling king or queensideMessage: I'm still very much a learning/improving player, in a recent game I had a dilema about whether to castle king or queenside, I don't normally have the dilema - I always castled kingside, but I could see an attacking opportunity and thought it worth the risk...how should you evaluate whether to castle queenside, or are there no firm principles? |
| Posted by bucklehead ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 09:20:28 play online chess | Very situationally dependent Message: You have to judge your game situation. Castling queenside is a common motif in some openings; for example, in the Sicilian Defense you very often see white castling queenside to free up his kingside pawns for a storm against black's castled kingside. An attacking opportunity is a good reason to consider 0-0-0 as it does bring a rook immediately to a center file. But at the same time you create a pawn weakness at a2, very often requiring a later Kb1 as cover. These are the basic structural characteristics of the queenside castle formation, but there are also many "dynamic" characteristics to balance--ones that are just as critical to evaluate when castling kingside. *Is your opponent castled (or likely to castle) on the queenside, or on the opposite wing? Opposite-wing castling may spark a fierce pawn struggle, while in same-wing castling the players need a good reason to send their king's guard flying into battle. *Are you castling into an enemy attack? I have been working on my responses as white to the French, and have begun using systems where I regularly castle long. Here the problem is that this is normally black's attacking zone, and I have to weather pressure from black's half-open c-file (for instance, after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 cxd4 6. Nb5 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 I am ready for 0-0-0, but longer-term threats down the c-file make the near-term development of kingside pressure mandatory). Other such tests could readily be devised. The bottom line is that you should not shy away from 0-0-0 out of fear of "riskiness"; but at the same time, keep in mind the structural factors about the queenside castled position. |
| Posted by jstack ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 14:41:32 play online chess | a good book for you to read... Message: "castling to win!" by Robert Timmerman - the book covers many ideas about casting(ideas in opening, middlegame and even ending). I've only read a few chapters in it, but what I read is very good. Its the only book I know of that deals exclusively with castling. |
| Posted by viva ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 18:06:51 play online chess | well.. Message: maybe i am not a great player or something but i think my theory about castling isnt bad... i think that castling is often done to waste a move..i castle when i feel that my king is in danger and the attack is coming. castling king or queen side is depeneding on a lot of things.. 1.if you wanna attack his king side then you can castle q side and begin attacking with your pawns.but you have to be safe in the q side or you will face a big counter attack.. 2.i prefer to let my king in the center as much as i can to confuse the opponent.he cant attack the king side before you castle king side cuz its useless you can always castle q side and all his attack plans fail..so keep your choices open.. |
| Posted by bananaman1 ability-tw.com 1/18/2005 16:49:34 play online chess | re: Well... Message: Leaving the king in the middle of the board often leaves it exposed and easier to attack than if you castle with three pawns in their starting positions. Although all of the choices made in chess have to be based on the game at hand I believe castling early can be a great positional advantage as long as their is some backup. I usually don't castle queenside just b/c it requires moving my queen which I don't usually do in the opening. |
| Posted by i_play_slowly ability-tw.com 1/18/2005 20:20:32 play online chess | It depends... Message: You might choose to castle in the opposite direction to your opponent so that you can launch a pawn storm against his castled position. Of course, in that case, your opponent can also launch a pawn storm against you. Usually the first player to launch a pawn storm will get the better deal. On the other hand, you might want to castle on the same side as your opponent to prevent a pawn storm against you. * Castling on the opposite side from your opponent might be more likely to precipitate a tactical game, while castling on the same side as your opponent might be more likely to lead to a positional kind of game. So the question of which side to castle on might depend on whether your style is more tactical or positional. Because so much depends on which side your opponent has castled, you might want to wait until she has made her decision first. * But waiting too long might mean forfeiting any chance to castle at all. For this reason, Reuben Fine suggests that castling kingside will usually be the better option, simply because it can be done sooner than castling queenside. * I've seen many defeats that were caused because the loser castled in the direction that the opponent's forces were already heading. Your choice of kingside or queenside, then, might well be determined by which side is safer. * Your choice might also be determined by the location of an open file. You might castle kingside so that your rook can claim the f-file, or queenside so that your rook can claim the d-file. Even if no file is open, your decision might rest on which side you are about to open, or which of your pawns require your rook's support. |
| Posted by ccmcacollister ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 00:21:13 play online chess | Another Reason for Castling Choice/When Later Message: Even endgame considerations can indicate which side to castle to, if you should castle at all. Going into a superior ending one may wish to castle on the side of their pawn majority when the King is going to play a role in advancing those pawns to try to win the game. Conversely, it might be needed to castle to the minority side if the King will be needed for defense there against the opponents advance, or even against his remaining pieces when things are getting to a piece-reduced endgame state. For the same reason you might need to castle to the side where you have broken pawn structure. Especially if trying to hold a R&P ending coming. Usually you don't want to castle to your pawn minority to attempt winning since it is an unlikely prospect and usually just helps your opponent if you try to advance those in an K&P endgame ... and when a minority attack IS pursued in a game it is more likely in the middlegame and with pieces other than your king, which may then just hinder the attempt to advance from being in the way or a target there. And almost always will not want to castle to the side where your opponent has his major pieces bearing down on you, particularly if there a re already files open there to you. Nor would your likely ever want to castle to the side where sacrificial potential exists against you. As a generallity, if you count the pieces you have on that wing, including the King, then the pieces your opponent has on that wing ... if his count exceeds yours by two or more pieces, sacrificial potential probably does or will exist there. This doesnt include pawns in the count. And of course specifics can change everything. But I heard it from a GM as a Rule of Thumb for attacking. *** jstack Interesting! I had no idea there was a book on castling. You always have the most interesting books/sources. I think I'd like to read that one. *** I once enjoyed an OTB game where I got to give Checkmate by playing O-O-O . }8-) |
| Posted by jjw109 ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 01:04:41 play online chess | Checkmate by O-O-O. Sweet! Message: I too have gotten the chance to mate by O-O-O, but only in a game of blitz. Still it was quite exciting. Perhaps the strangest part was that it was preceded by another game about an hour earlier where I mated by promotion to Knight (it followed a beautiful sequence involving a Q sac, R sac, and a pair of discovered checks to force the K into the mating square!). Even stranger was about an hour later when I nearly mated by O-O, but the opponent opened a flight square allowing Kf8-g7, although O-O+ still became part of a forced mate with raking Bs and Q. Two of the mate rarities in one night, with nearly a third--truly a night of chess to remember! But still looking for that mate by en passant capture! |
| Posted by futile ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 09:11:19 play online chess | Castling Message: I'm so glad jstack didn't recommend "castling to lose!" by I.M.A. Badplayer. It can't help at all. My suggestion is to completely forgo castling and constantly play the Tumbleweed opening 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.kf2! you might eventually win!? |
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