Castling

If you had the choice between castling kingside or queenside in an even position so it doen't matter,what woud you choose?

Kingside

The thing is, it really depends on the position. The rule of thumb is that if you castle on opposite sides of the board, then the person whose attack gets there first will win. If you're set up to launch an attack right away and your opponent isn't, castle on the opposite side that he did. In most circumstances kingside castling is preferable.

The only way I could say which I would do is to actually look at the position on the board. 

I would castle opposite in an even position.

All else being equal, kingside castling is better because it doesn't require the extra tempi to safeguard the king (o-o-o is often followed by Kb1)

same side my opponent castled to to make it even.

Kingside

 

What about in this position?

 

EDIT: I opted for queenside.

For that position, queenside. I don't see black castling kingside, so he will choose between queenside and not at all. The open g file, plus the h pawn, is more dangerous if your king is on the kingside, plus o-o-o gets Rd1 "for free", a move you want to play anyway. White is much better in this position, because of black's pawn weaknesses and bad bishop.

Ozzie I agree, you'll chuckle when I tell you that the next few moves were:

0-0-0, Ne7

Nxf6#

in favorable positions , kingside, but in position where my queen is a few squares up on the samefile she started as, and the file is empty and it could be mate in one, if my queen couldnt be attacked by the king, i would castle queenside to get my rook behind my queen and create a threat.

To my knowledge, kingside castling is in general better because it protects the king more than queenside does (that means in case of 0-0-0 you will need to move your king farther to the b file). The case posted by broze is different as there is an open file and I agree with ozzie.

Kingside is the way I almost always go.

When pondering whether to castle kingside or queenside, one would be wise not to forget the third option, - not to castle at all. A general rule would be, that if queens are off the board, and you're progressing into the endgame, the king becomes an attacking piece, and whomsoever first reaches the center and makes best use of his king might win. Also wise to remember is, that there are exceptions to all rules. When castling should be done, I agree with a former post, and as the diagram shows very well, - look at the position and decide out of practical means. Statistically speaking and generally speaking it is often safer to castle kingside, because it is often faster tempowise (as a post also clarified). Opposite sides castling are often a prelude to an attack, as in the sicilian defence whether opposite side castling is not uncommon. However, one must always remember, what you want in the game. Do you want stability or all out assault, are an tactical or positional player? It can very fast become very complicated what to do with such a simple thing as castling :-)

deadpoetic wrote:

same side my opponent castled to to make it even.

---

Exactly. There ain't no better choice than that.

what if your opponent doesn't castle?

I agree with fbemporad

PCFlyer wrote: what if your opponent doesn't castle?

---

Then Kingside is best, since it doesn't require the extra tempo to fully castle.