Does SANTA O-O-O ?

Does Santa castle Kingside? or does he prefer the "long castle", the less CLAUStrophobic, Queenside castle?

Does he even play chess?

In the past month I have witnessed two very wrong , (although one was quite funny), queenside castles at the local club. Both were at the hands of new players who should probably stay to the Kingside until their skills develop further ..... though if you are going to learn it is best to make mistakes at your friendly local club.

1. Too far Queenside.

The first of these incorrect castles simply shifted the King too far left ... 3 squares instead of 2. I  grabbed my opponnents King and Rook and moved them to the correct position explaining the proper positions for the castle. Our friendly game then continued.

2. What's That!?

The second bad castle was performed by my own child , playing against a club member who for whatever reason opened d4 against her. She may not have noticed this change from routine, for her, and proceeded to position her knight and bishop and then castle .... our jaws dropped in surprise at what she had done..

Apparently she was tired, and being new to chess, just followed her normal opening sequence ... not noticing that she had grabbed the Queen where she thought the King should have been....