Um....Kramnik is obviously not pulling some unsound tricks. I'm not qualified to answer this question. Anyone else want to share thoughts? The one thing I can think of is I have seen positions with some weakness on the opponent's side after castling, a hook say, and having the rook on the h file is useful for the attack and hence it is desirable to delay castling, perhaps being careful to keep say long castling as an option.
When is it better to not castle in a game?
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Apr 21, 2023
0
#3
Except the queens are traded early in the game, I will likely castle my king in almost every game I play. My reason is because I am a noob and from experience, it easier for my opponent to pull some massive attack on my king when it is in the center. I am not a GM and I overlook too many threats to allow my king sit on the center of the board.
When things are looking too chaotic on both wings and it looks risky no matter which side I castle on I'm like, "Welp, looks like I'm just gonna have to hunker down here and take my chances here in the good ol center."
Apr 21, 2023
0
#5
It is more about King safety than the act of castling. Castling gets the King out of danger (usually super dangerous in the center) and it also develops the Rook out of the corner too. The cases where the King can survive in the center is typically when many pieces have been exchanged, or the center is closed. Here is a video with examples on what side to castle (if at all).
I've been noticing in some GM games they choose to not castle and just keep their king in the center. Can it be advantageous or even safer in some positions to do this? and if so when can you tell?