<Real men don't castle.<>>

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< Winning < Without Castling>> by Nickolai Gurtovoi

Here is how Nickolai Gurtovoi introduced the first series in 1995:

Once Steinitz spoke of his special attitude to the King: <"I play the King all over the board! I make him battle! With his help, I have a superfluous piece. What about Morphy? He castles; he hides his King in a safe place...">

120 years later, these bold thoughts by the first world champion are highly topical in our day.

Many outstanding chess players, Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, have played very well without castling. Their uncastled play has inspired my correspondence chess!

Castling has several defects:

1- it is a waste of tempo
2- the King is outside the play
3- pieces are in disharmony (that is why the King is in danger)

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And his preface to the second series in 1997:

I do not support uncastling play completely; it may be necessary depending on the situation on the chessboard. The king can be weak and vulnerable, or it may be a strong and comanding piece. It is because of these extreme qualities that, paradoxically, it features in most interesting positions on the chessboard.

The strong Italian chess player of the 16th/17th century, Pietro Carrera, wrote: <"Castling is a two-headed monster, the embodiment of cowardice and indecision."> The German chess player, Karl-Wilgeim von Königstadt in his book Brief Manual of Chess Play (Stockholm 1784) recorded: <"Strong players never castle...">

However, subsequent theoreticians over the last 200 years, to put it mildly, have bamboozled millions of chess players on the necessity of castling.

Unfortunately now castling has assumed epidemic proportions, even amongst famous chess players, and for that reason they quite often lose. The following games are some examples where the merest faith in castling as a panacea for all troubles has led to destruction.

Source: http://www.scottishcca.co.uk/wwc/ww... Scroll down for annotated corr.games --> http://www.scottishcca.co.uk/downlo...

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Lombardy writes his interestingly unconventional views on castling on pages 22-23 of his book Understanding Chess. My System, My Games, My Life (New York, 2011):

<‘The problems posed by the decision to castle are much misunderstood and thereby underrated.

<... So, my new advice on castling: it is castling is to be considered a waste of time wrongly expended when there is almost always something more important to achieve. Thus castling is a passive move that nurtures the hope of king safety. I believe that a player who learns how and when to delay castling will certainly improve his/her play. Very often that cherished hope of safety is ill founded. I therefore believe that the maneuver of castling is the most dangerous of all moves and the decision thus requires more attention to delicate judgment.

Not only should one not rush to castle, but should delay that passive maneuver for as long as good judgment relates that there are more urgent, if only slightly better, tasks to accomplish.'>>

<Here are some cautionary tales: Game Collection: 87b_Attack the UNCASTLED KING>