The good moment to castle

Hello!

I'm french so I don't speek very good english if you don't understand my question please tell me :)

I know that castling is very important to bring your king in security. But I have a problem, when I castle, my opponent often bring his Queen on g6, and then a bishop on h3 and the it's very hard to defend. Also I don't really know what pawn sturcture is good for a good castle. I often have f2 g2 h3 (when I'm white).

Can someone explain me how to do a good castle?

Thank you :)

Spirou

To castle is an important move because it brings your king safer and you develop your rook in the centre.Of course there are some exceptions,for example if your opponent already pushed f-g-h pawns you should try to keep king in the centre or castle queenside.Your pawn formation with f2-g2-h3 appears good.Remember to do not push your pawns of castle unless it is necessary.

Basically the steps are pretty easy. Follow them and you won't lose to anyone below 1700.

Control the center
Castle
Develop ALL your pieces (rooks included)
Then and ONLY then you can start your attack.
Dont blunder (So pay attention to what your opponents threats are)

Follow these and you will be 1700 very soon.

If I analyse any of your losses I can say 99.99% of them will be breaking a rule that I mentioned above.

Castle as soon as you can, preferably king's side o-o.
Keep your pawns where they are: f2, g2, h2. Any pawn move is a weakness.

Thank you for your answer ;)

I am a chess expert and I feel that you can castle with any pawn formation, just don't castle on the side where your opponent attacks. Castle either side, and don't forget that sometimes the center is the safest place! @tpr's suggestion is too dogmatic, like the works of Chernev and Tarrasch.

@idh82bu-slomo you can castle on the side where the opponent is attacking. A classic example is 13...o-o! in Gligoric-Fischer, Candidates tournament Bled Zagreb Beograd, 22 October 1959

@spirou201 #1

"...how to do a good castle..."

Perhaps it depends...? It's like with all these rules. Compare with "Dem Feinde lang, dem Freunde kurz" from the very German game Skat (Lasker played it every day in his favorite chess cafe). The rule isn't always TRUE, but despite this insight especially veterans rely on it since 19th century.

@spirou201 Qg6 and Bh3 is a very elementary attempt at an attack, but can understandably be annoying if you're not familiar with ways to thwart it.

Consider a position such as this one:
r1b2rk1/ppp2pp1/2nb2qp/4p3/4P3/2P2N2/PPQNBPPP/R2R2K1 w KQkq -

Black is threatening to play Bh3 and Qxg2#

There are generally 3 ways to get out of this threat, and some ways are better than others. You can:

1) push the pawn (g3). This is not recommended because it is weakening to your light squares.

2) defend the g2 square (Nh4, Ne1) This works, but is also not recommended because it usually requires worsening your pieces. You could also fall victim to remove-the-defender type tactics.

3) break the G file pin. (Kh1, Nf1-g3) This is the ideal way to stop the threat. Breaking the pin would force the bishop's retreat, and it will be white wasting time, not you.

In the sample position I gave, I would play the maneuver 1.Nf1! My knight isn't so great anyways, and I would like to reroute it so it can eye the strong f5 square. Now you can meet 1...Bh3 with 2.Ng3, forcing black to retreat.

Responding to this Qg6+Bh3 threat smoothly requires a bit of prophylaxis, that is, anticipating the threat before the threat is even made. Make sure you are in a position to reply comfortably to this threat, ideally by breaking the pin. And again, try to avoid worsening your position in any way through your defense, whether that be moving a piece to a worse square, or making weaknesses in your pawn structure.

Hope this helped! :)

@jposthuma #9

"Hope this helped!"

Despite that i'm not the OP it did.