Castling

Castling is one of the most important concepts in chess, which we will be spending lots of time both learning about this, but also reinforcing the concept as we progress though the levels.

Facts about Castling:

-Castling refers to a maneuver that allows the king and a rook to move at the same time.

-Used to safeguard the King- this is extremely important! Often times, castling is the best way to ensure that your King doesn’t suffer a bloody death in the early stages of the game.
-In castling, the king moves two squares towards the rook, while the rook hops over the king and lands on one square beyond.

-This beautiful thing about castling that it’s relevant in games of all levels: from the beginner to the top players in the world, they are all well advised to castle!

-There are two ways to castle: Kingside and Queenside. Castling Kingside is far more common, so we’ll focus on that.

-In chess notation, castling Kingside would be notated as “O-O,” and castling Queenside would be notated as “O-O-O.”

Now that we’ve got the basics down, let’s look at some examples to reinforce this concept: it’s always better to see it!

This is a theoretical starting position. It’s White’s turn to move, so he elects to castle Kingside.

1. 0-0

White’s position is what a Kingside castled position looks like. Since White has castled Kingside, Black decides to castle Queenside.

1… 0-0

Black’s position is what a Queenside castled position looks like.