Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Unsafe Castle

Every chess player has listened at some point how important is to castle. Chess coaches repeat many times that castle is a safe way for protecting the king. The second benefit of castling is to connect both rooks which make them more powerful.

Nevertheless, there are two ways of castling, either short or long castle. Which one to choose? It always depends on the particular position but never choose to castle on the side where the opponent is starting the attack. It sounds obvious but sometimes players make decisions based on wrong indications, personal feelings or underestimating the opponent’s plan.

Take a look at the following game, where Black plays an unsafe castle:

Probably many beginners will castle at the first opportunity following their coaches’ indications.

But because every rule has exceptions, chess players need to evaluate the consequences before making their moves. That is something that a coach can’t teach. Everyone has to learn by themselves and the way to learn is by playing.

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