In our first two lessons for beginners, I stressed the importance of not giving your pieces away. In the third lesson, the following mandate was offered: DEVELOP ALL YOUR PIECES (it’s a team effort, so make sure your whole army is ready to participate!). Once a player is able to wrap his mind around these concepts and begins to automatically protect his men and develop them all as quickly as possible, we are ready to take a new step. This is something of enormous importance -- it’s easy to do, yet even seasoned tournament players occasionally fail to do it: PROTECTING THE KING!

Though every basic book stresses the importance of castling, a huge amount of players avoid it, preferring to get a few men out and then tossing them aggressively in the direction of the opponent’s monarch. This approach, of course, is a sure fire way to be thrashed for the rest of your chess life.

Why is it important to castle as quickly as possible?

• The center is the most important part of the board (it’s FAR more important than the wings). If your opponent opens lines in that area, do you really want your King to take the brunt of his assault?
  
  
• If your King is in the middle, your Rooks won’t be connected. Playing with one Rook against your opponent’s two is very poor math (in other words, castling gets your King to safety AND brings a Rook into play)!
  
  
• Why attack when your own King is in the danger zone? It’s much better to get his Highness to a safe spot and only then start a battle. NEVER begin a fight if your King isn’t safe!
  
  
• You can play on if you make a strategic mistake. You can play on if you hang a pawn. But if your King gets mated, the game is over. Simply put: winning a prolonged battle is MUCH easier if your King is safely castled.
  
  
• It’s very hard to checkmate a castled King. You might be worried that your King will be executed in whatever corner it castled in, but it’s actually far simpler to torment a central King than a castled one.
  
  
• Not castling doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be mated. But it will make it harder for your forces to cooperate, and tactics based on the exposed King can easily lead to loss of material.

As compelling as these arguments may be, some people just won’t believe it! I had one middle-aged student who stubbornly refused to castle, saying that his King would be trapped in the corner and checkmated. So, he kept his King in the middle and got mated (or lost material) over and over and over. Finally, after one full year of begging on my part, he finally braved castling and, shock of shock, he didn’t have to worry about his King at all! I had finally managed to convert him, but he had suffered through a year’s worth of carnage before he saw the light.

BLACK TO MOVE AND WIN

tion would be fine if he was castled, but his central King allows Black to “gut” him right up the middle!

1...dxe4

Opening up a “road” (i.e., the e-file) to the White King. The immediate 1…Rfe8? allows White to close it up with 2.e5 when 3.0-0 will follow (if he knows what’s good for him!).

2.Bxe4 Nxe4
3.Nxe4 Rfe8

If White’s King was castled, then 4.Nxd6 would be equal. Unfortunately, the Knight on e4 is pinned and, as a result, will soon be lost.

4.Qd3

Defending the e4-Knight and hoping against hope that Black will give White a chance to castle and then move his horse to safety.

Note that defending the e4-Knight by 4.Nfg5 failed to 4…Bf4 when 5.Qd3 Bxg5 picks up a free piece since 6.Nxg5 isn’t legal due to the fact that the remaining Knight is still pinned to its King.

4...Nf6

Attacking the e4-Knight again. The poor thing must be cursing it’s King since it’s virtually frozen into place!

5.Nfd2 Nxe4
6.Nxe4 f5 followed by …fxe4 when Black will have won a piece. Note how the h1-Rook wasn’t able to take part in the battle. Yet another unfortunate side effect of not castling!

If you haven’t been castling and you make a concerted effort to do so from now on, you will notice a vast (and quick!) improvement in your results.

LESSONS:

1) One should always try and play in the center. Having your King there is always counterproductive.

2) Get your King to safety as quickly as possible. In general, it’s suicidal to start an attack if your King is still in the center. Thus, you should strive to castle as fast as you can!

3) Castling not only gets your King to safety, it also brings your Rook into play.