Opposite Side Castling: The Basics, Part 1

In games where the players castle on opposite sides, an attack against the opposing king is almost always in order.  The rational for this is "If you don't do it to him, he's going to do it to you" or, if you like, the more pithy "Kill or be killed".  In this game, it was White who really took this advice to heart.

This game illustrates the cardinal rule of opposite side castling: "Make threats quickly and keep them coming".  From move 12 on, White created threat after threat and Black never even got going on the queenside.  It also shows that the old saying "Count the pieces on the board, not off the board." is true.  Although White was behind by a knight and rook "off of the board", he had an abundance of material where it counted "on the board", namely, Black’s kingside.