The Opening: King's Position

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Kings Position as the number 6 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. I love it when I see grand masters giving advice on opening principles and they typically will say "castle as early as possible" or "castle before move 10" implying that castling is a must in every chess game. While it's true that most games will require each player to castle either early on or perhaps later in the game, on occasion there will be games where you'll want to refrain from castling altogether. That's why merely calling castling an opening principle is rather generic and sometimes downright misleading. What players should be giving attention to from the very start of the game until the finish is how safe is their king's position not simply on how soon castling should take place. Now obviously there are very good reasons why these grand masters keep stressing the importance of castling. For starters, these astute chess gurus know that both players will be attacking and defending pieces in the center of the chessboard, so it would make sense now for them to warn players to get their king away from the center where all of the action is taking place. A further benefit to castling is that it connects both of a player's rooks together which is another important opening principle.

However, as I mentioned above, the king doesn't always need to be castled immediately, but players should avoid letting their opponents force them into castling on a specific side (especially a dangerous one). So while I do not feel the need to tell players that they should always castle, I do suggest that they are at least prepared to castle on either or both sides so if the need arises they can do so without needing to wait until the coast is clear.

In a future article we we dive deeper into the king's position and go over strategies in keeping the king safe in the early stage of the game.