Castleing

Which side is better to castle on?

Queen's side or King's side?

For white? For black?

Most times i castle on the king's side.

If you castle on the queen side a big scary monster will jump out and eat you.

It always depends on the position.  This is just bad advice.

Ruth, it all depends on game situation; usually that favors King side, especially if done in first 6-12 moves (which SHOULD BE an overall regular guide to your play at your level experience); both Castling AND trying to get done 'properly' in first 6-12 moves. As you move up the skill/experience levels, castling then a more nuanced movement; more 'known, been there before, remember' experience 'doing opposite' what you usually do, not castling at all, castling opposite side from opponent, when to do that, WHEN NOT to do that

You see, as in most things in chess, while there are some general concepts, that when learned/applied WILL make you a better player, most aren't the ALWAYS type nor ONE SIZE fits all type.

O-O is logical mainly because it goes with Opening Priniple, "Protect your King" O-O-O also protects the king but is said to lead to sharper play. Sharper doesn't mean more of an adavantage for your side. It means greater risks for both sides. This is where good calculative skills or positional understanding would definitely be useful.

Kingside pretty much always, except when you have a good knowledge of the opening and have a very good reason to castle queenside like Caro Kann Bronstein variation (queenside castling for black), or many cases of the sicilian defense (queenside castling for white). Lower rated players who are not playing in serious competitions can take the liberty of queenside castling in pretty much any situation, as a way of enjoying the game. At higher levels however, castling direction needs to be carefully considered.

Other than that, HaveAnotherGame and SatBchMagicer summed it up pretty nicely.

You state there are always exceptions to the rule, and then you say you stand by your statement always castle kingside, which contradicts what you just said.  I think you're confused.  Again, it depends on the position.  True most times you will castle kingside as it is usually safer.  But there are situations that come up where it is wise to castle queenside.  It is not that rare.

Hahahaha.  Everybody loves an internet tough guy.  I guess  you've never played the Yugoslav attack.

Would you run me into the ground like this game where your opponent castled queenside??

or this one.  

Take his advice if you want.  But look at these games and you tell me if its always bad to castle queenside.

I'm with mattyf9 here and am of the opinion that both castling directions should be considered even if the usual 0-0 is generally quicker and safer.

I've had some great attacking & tactical games that have come about from casting queenside , though i will concede that its only when im playing black that i'll consider castling both sides , as white its always kingside. Buts thats probably more related to my playing style and prefered openings rather than any concious decision.

The only other elements to castling that i consider is both timing and the intended castle move of my opponent , and with this in mind i always castle in the same direction of my opponent if they've gone first.

As a side note , i've noticed alot more games of late where my opponents are choosing not to castle at all , the outcomes from this tactic vary greatly from sharp and effective to down right disaster lol  

But I do enjoy punishing those whom ignore basic chess housekeeping tasks such as castling ;-)

Thanks Biff.  People may always castle kingside simply because of the openings they like to play and thats fine.  If you look at my games I pretty much always castle kingside too.  But there are plenty of positions I have castled queenside in especially when black plays the sicilian.  There's so many exceptions in chess that to tell someone to ALWAYS do something is pretty much always bad advice, especially to a beginner.

It's also a bad idea to make a statement like that, and talk trash, when you've gotten smashed in 2 of your more recent games where your opponent castled queenside lolol.

morris_7; What you've learned to play at your current 1973 ranking, what I've learned to play at my 'today' 1582 ranking; IS MUCH different than orig. poster's query, that I guessed (correctly) to be from a player beyond 'just begun' to have already understood, castling an important concept to get to learn as part/parcel of becoming a better player; most of the other commenters here seem to agree; in that WE in general differ mainly in detail and some of our reasoning; NO DOUBT, you'd pretty well EVERYTIME 'eat my lunch' in just about ANY  game WE played, no matter which side I DID/DIDN'T castle on; I'll even concede probably 'faster food' type if I Q castled, as I KNOW there are less GOOD reasons/situations to do so; by same token: I'll bet 'Magnus' current World Champion, would really 'swallow you whole' EVERY GAME if he told you before hand HE WILL ALWAYS Q castle vs you. Not trying to start 'spitting' contest w/you, but 'hard, always' RULES for inexperienced chess players, JUST DON"T ALWAYS APPLY, you should know that, unless you started chess AS a 1973 ranking player; highly doubt

morris_7, see that wasn't so hard, you thought about it, compromised some, not quite in middle, but I'll take it (He did drop ONE !).Will also concede I RARELY Q castle, and it HAS in most, but NOT all, cases, shall we say NOT WORKED OUT! Some day we may meet 'across board', if so (ME): What EVER you do DON'T Q-s!!

morris_7, I've learned NEVER to be insolent on chess(.), especially with higher ranked opponents; the last thing you want is your opponent to even think about is: I don't believe this rapscallion is affording me the proper respect due my hard won ranking; they'll bear witness to how I PUNISH such behavior! Thanks for the knowledge exchange and free chess lesson: some Open Sicilian, dragon variation, Wht; it may indeed be warranted!!

As all questions in chess strategy get answered, "it depends".

This being said, castling short is usually recommended if you don't have any good reason to prefer the other side, because the king is further from the center (hence safer in the middlegame).

As for the belief that castling long causes sharper game, it probably stems from the fact that opposite castling (ie when the opponents castles on different sides, so one castles long and the other short) usually makes sharper games because each player can rush pawns towards the opponent's king without blowing up his own king's cover.

You're atleast making a little more sense now.

The desicion shoud be configuration dependent like which is favourable which is not....

it depends on the position

Never ever castle. Castling is for wusses!