Castling is soposed to protect your king right?Not for me. Every game i have casteled in i lost? My king was stuck in the corner and i got checkmated. Can someone give me advice on weather of not to castle.

Castling isn't an end-all for safety.  It must be coupled with proper play by the rest of the pieces in order for it be an effective defensive position for the king.

Castling also achieves more than just king safety as it allows for better piece coordination (especially rooks).

Should you always castle?  Not necessarily...if the center is closed or major pieces have been traded off, castling might not be beneficial.  In general though, especially for beginners, castling early is a sound rule of thumb.

And concerning what can happen if you don't castle, well, look at your June 17th game

Castling is usaully good if the other person castles first.  If you can make an open file to the other king aka the g or h file then you can attack the castled position and crush your opponent

your opening problems are because you don't control the center or develop your pieces.  you advance your rookpawns like a madman.... end the madness. castling won't help if you destroy the pawn structure that is to protect your king. borrow a book on chess strategy from your library and learn about opening principles. your rating will increase 200 points minimum.

EngWannabe wrote:

Castling isn't an end-all for safety.  It must be coupled with proper play by the rest of the pieces in order for it be an effective defensive position for the king.

Castling also achieves more than just king safety as it allows for better piece coordination (especially rooks).

Should you always castle?  Not necessarily...if the center is closed or major pieces have been traded off, castling might not be beneficial.  In general though, especially for beginners, castling early is a sound rule of thumb.

And concerning what can happen if you don't castle, well, look at your June 17th game

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 Seconded.

hondoham wrote:

your opening problems are because you don't control the center or develop your pieces.  you advance your rookpawns like a madman.... end the madness. castling won't help if you destroy the pawn structure that is to protect your king. borrow a book on chess strategy from your library and learn about opening principles. your rating will increase 200 points minimum.

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 wow, I just looked into this, and he's completely spot on. <Johndeere850dlc>, focus more on development and chess principles, and less on moving your rook pawns to your opponents half of the board early on. 

hondoham> learn about opening principles.

And if the original poster is book-adverse, there's also:

http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/Openings/10openrules.html

This explains the most vital rules which should help quite a bit. NM Dan Heisman notes than many of the beginning students he's coached have heard them many times before, but they often find reasons to ignore them to their deteriment. Castling, proper development, controlling the center, etc. will all improve your game--yes, I looked at all four of them--tremendously, especially if you do them in combination.

It's not the castling...it's the moves before where you lost...read the board and pay more attention to your openings

 

thanks for the advice