Personally, whether its right or not, I tend to castle, if possible, once I see where and which side more of his/her pieces seems to be developed, I castle the opposite lol.
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It sounds like you are castling into attacks. One game with a lot of issues is not a lot of information, but in general.
Rules of thumb here would be really tricky, but you can try these ideas.
- castle the opposite side as your opponent will often lead to a game of attrition. That is, both sides will often launch an all out "win or die trying" attack on the other, using their pawns as well as pieces to break into the enemy king.
- castle kingside is generally considered to be slightly better in most positions. You can do it in fewer moves, the king is less vulnerable (the far pawn is weak because the king does not protect it queen side), etc. You often spend an extra move on the queen side to put the king one more square over to defend the far pawn and make it more like king side castle.
- castle queenside is most often done due to the position. This means things like: your king side pawns are damaged, you cannot castle king-side (rook moved, or enemy prevents it with a piece), the rook location of the queen side castling produces a strong queen/rook battery, or the king side is already attacked and going there is suicide.
So, in general, you want to castle king side unless there is a reason to go the other way, and you want to study the games you lose to see the common attacks. Usually an opponent launches a QNB attack on the castled king, sacrifices one of those to get a corner pocket mate on the king with the queen and the other minor piece. You have to watch for these and not allow these types of attacks, which mostly, is done by experience, practice, and losing to these sorts of things enough times to be more wary.
great post jonnin
So, in general, you want to castle king side unless there is a reason to go the other way, and you want to study the games you lose to see the common attacks. Usually an opponent launches a QNB attack on the castled king, sacrifices one of those to get a corner pocket mate on the king with the queen and the other minor piece. You have to watch for these and not allow these types of attacks, which mostly, is done by experience, practice, and losing to these sorts of things enough times to be more wary.
Great post indeed !! Thank you all for responding to my questions so quick and vivid !! I am sorry I coulndt respond earlier, temporarily I only have internet at my job..
In dutch we would say, you hit the nail on his head..I highlighted the sentence I find esspecially interesting. " Usually an opponent launches a QNB attack on the castled king".
- Are there any good exapmles from this sort of attack?
-Obvious question: how to prevent it (generally )
-When the two sides castle (I learn!!) to the same side, does the same rule apply?
no, if both players go to the same side they do not use the protective pawns to lead the assault (usually) and the game is less chaotic.
To prevent a tactical hit, you have to see it coming. This is not always easy, not at all!! Most often the board looks something like this diagram and the attacker sacs the knight or bishop on the pawns, exposes the king, and mates before the opponent can do anything at all about it. Here is sort of an example from the forums... there are many games in the analysis forums that have the theme .. http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-analysis/an-attacking-game-i-would-like-help-with
In the diagram, black may for example move the bishop to hit h3 or something. It varies, but the 3 piece attack is very common and lower rated players often forget that the "defensive" knight supporting the castled king can leap to the enemy king's area in only 1 or 2 moves.
Of course, you then want to get the Rooks on the files that are open, semi-open or likely to become open.