When to castle!

Castling. Some players' favorite move, and my most hated move, purely to secure king safety. How useful exactly is it though, when should you do it, and when not?

In this blog, I'll be focusing on castling in the opening and the average midgame. If you spot a mistake I made, please tell me what it was in the forum!

When to castle in openings?

Something I see quite often... Castling on move 4 or 5 in the Italian Game. By myself, i always think: ''Damn... Really destroying the opening huh?''
Why do I say that? Well, in my opinion, openings like Italian Game are all about gaining the center. One move that's not focused on the center is in my eyes lost game. Though, is it actually?

Let's first look at an example of this, and what Stockfish has to say about it...

According to the Lichess opening guide, with 3. ... Bc5 the White winrate was 50%, with 4. d3 the winrate 50%, while with 4. 0-0 the winrate... 49%...
Though that are of course pure numbers. 4.d3 was played 28% of the games, and 4. 0-0 only 20% of the games.
Stockfish also recommends playing 4. d3, with getting a +0.3 advantage, while 4. 0-0 only gives an advantage of +0.1!

Why exactly would castling be bad/good?

Mostly because of the switch of ''center''. For me, the ''center'', most protected squares, are always ''above'' the king. In Italian Game, everything is focused on the center, so why waste a move to get your king to the side of the board... where there are barely peices protecting it?!
Better, would be finishing the entire opening, to after that, prepare a Queenside castle. Why? Because then, the rook actually does something, and the king isn't as much to the border as with Kingside castling. This would, in my opinion, be the only reasonable castle in Italian Game!

When to castle in midgame?

In my opinion: Only when it's usefull!
-Say you'd be threatened with checkmate, but playing 0-0 would set the opponent's king in check/attacking an important piece, and getting the king secured!
-Say your opponent just castled, and because your main pieces are on the Queenside, you also decide to play 0-0-0, creating a ''casteled attack''.
-When it creates a battery, threatening to checkmate! This mostly only works with Queenside castle though ofcourse...
Only in those type of positions would it be good. Because it then isn't just a move, no, it's a USEFULL move!

An example when not to castle in midgame:

One of my best games, 94% accuracy, by purely outplaying my opponent. No blunders from each side, no mistakes, only some simple inaccuracies... But no castle...!

As shown here, though it was possible, no castle from either side... Just... Strategy!
Why? Because the intire game was focused on the center. Castling wasn't needed, simply because the king would have gotten in a worse position!

What side should you castle to?

Tricky question! It obviously depends on the position you're in, but globally, i'd say:
Kingside castle if no other option, or if simply better than Queenside-, otherwise in all positions Queenside castle. Except, of course, when the a-pawn isn't protected, something you should always watch out for!

Still, there, of course, is no pre-looked better castling side, it always depends on the position and why you castle!

Afterword:

First of all, thank you for reading my blog!
I should, of course, say, this is purely my opinion, and if you spot a mistake I made, be sure to tell it me in the forum!

-Created by @Distant_Abyss, a Classical player-