Castling

In chess, castling is a special move where a King can move two squares either to the left (Kingside Castle) or right (Queenside Castle).

See example below:

The rook is then placed to the left or right of the King respectively.

How To Castle

To Castle Kingside you

• First Move Your King To The Right Two Squares
• Then Move Your Rook Two Squares To The Left

See this interactively below:

To Castle Queenside you

1. Move Your King To The Left Two Squares
2. Then Move Your Rook Three Squares To The Right

See this interactively below:

Conditions For Castling

Five conditions need to be met for castling to be a valid move:

1. The King cannot not have moved before
2. The Rook cannot not have moved before
3. Squares between the King and Rook must be unoccupied
4. The King cannot be in Check
5. The squares the King has to go over when castling cannot be under attack

See these conditions below:

The King cannot have moved before

The Rook cannot have moved before

Squares between the King and Rook must be unoccupied

King cannot be in check

The squares the King has to go over when castling cannot be under attack

When Should You Castle

In general, it is almost always a good idea to castle.

In most positions, your king is safer on the corners of the board than in the center (where all the action happens).

And castling also allows the rooks to easily get involved in the game.

Without castling, it would take multiple moves to get your rooks on a square where they could be effective.

But...

You need to exercise judgement here.

You have the ability to either castle Kingside, Queenside, or not castle and should look at the current situation on the board to determine when to do what.

If your kingside pawns have been moved OR your opponent has too many pieces attacking that side (leaving you vulnerable to attacks), you probably shouldn’t castle Kingside (and just castle on the opposite side)

See example below: