Castle on same side as opponent, opposite, or...

If you have a balanced position and want to keep it balanced, probably castle same side, but if you're looking for a more dynamic middlegame, castling on the opposite side could give either or both side(s) an attack, possibly with pawn breaks on either side.

Those are some interesting thoughts. I guess I do it depending on how the opening goes. 

If you like sharper and more aggressive play, opposite-side castling gives both sides the opportunity to attack up the board with a pawn storm. If you prefer more positional, careful play, go for same-side castling.

Going opposite sides tend to lead to a knock down drag out type game where both sides pawn-storm the king's nest -- whoever finds a tactic or breaks through the pawns first usually wins.  

If you are the one going queenside, though.. some generalizations...

- it costs 2 extra moves in general (develop queen first, and move king afterwards toward the edge of the board)

- the rook is usually much better placed after

- the outside pawn is vulnerable until king moves. 

- it often derails the opponent's plans to attack the other side, esp if the opponent relies on a setup designed to quickly attack the kingside. 

Thank you, chess fellows, some valuable thoughts.

Pawns, pawns will tear us apart again. 

Joy Division I do believe.

Ian Curtis, 24 years old and soon to take his own life when he wrote this.

I went from playing defensively and castling to same side to playing aggressive and castling opposite side and just push the pawns and that caused me to drop from 1400 to 1200 so if you want to be aggressive castle same side and still feel safe try the King's Indian Defense. The King's Indian Defense is pretty safe for attacking because you get a knight and bishop for defense if you push your pawns.

I like queen side bc you get a nicely positioned rook and you don't hafta move both and waste 2 moves. But kingside is also nice bc your king should be safer there, but it's easier to get checkmated since many people attack kingside more, and queen side is a less common so it confuses your opponent a bit. TLDR: Castling queen side gets a nicely placed rook and confuses your opponent a bit, and kingside gets a safer king

At my level and after playing over 1500 games I still haven't realized which side is more attacking or defending or which side is safer. As every game is different I still sometimes ask myself why I should castle at all because when I do the opponent often immediately attacks that side aggressively with pawns, knight and other pieces and I can't defend against that.

At my level I often feel I maybe shouldn'T castle because I don't feel safer with my king in the corner.

I really am not a big fan of castling.