How Do I Castle?

Discover the power of your king in his castle! Learn the special moves of “castling” to set your king up for success.

Topic 1

Castling is the only move in chess where you can move two pieces at the same time. It safeguards the king by moving him away from the action-filled center, and it prepares your rooks to enter the battle.  

To castle, move your king two steps toward your rook. Then swing your rook to the other side of him. It must be your king and rook’s first move. Also, you can’t castle in response to a check. And you can’t castle “through” check, or into it. We’ll get to examples of that later.  

Castling toward the rook closer to the king is “kingside castling.” Castling toward the farther rook is called “queenside castling.” Here Black has just castled queenside by moving the king two squares over and swinging the rook to the other side. 

Topic 2

Black just played …Be7, preparing to castle. But this was a mistake — …a6 was better! White can now prevent Black from castling forever with an aggressive move. Find it!

Good. This bishop check is powerful because of one of the important rules of castling — you can’t castle out of check. So instead, Black must move the king.  

Blocking the check with …Bd7 allows White to play Bxd7+. If Black recaptures, then the queen gets captured on the next move! Does it matter that Black can’t castle anymore? Yes. Black’s king is stuck in the center, and the h8 rook will struggle to get in the game.   

Let’s see the next moment from this game to see if we’ve learned how to castle ourselves. Now show us how White can castle here!

Great job! You did it.

Topic 3

White is up a pawn but can only castle one way. Can you find it?

Very good! White can only castle queenside. White could not castle kingside because f1 is under control by Black’s bishop. You can’t castle through check.  

Topic 4

White has a good position, but isn’t yet castled. On which side should she castle?

Yes! Did you see that if you castled queenside, the black queen would capture the a2-pawn, and his pieces would be aiming right at White’s king?  Put your king where he’s safest.

Topic 5

In this position White is threatening to put pressure on the f6 knight with Nd5. Your f6 knight is pinned, and can’t move without allowing the h4 bishop to take your queen. How can you defend against Nd5 and stop White’s plan to destroy your castled position?

Very good! This move prevents the gang up on f6, as long as you see the next move…

Your last move was good, but now you have to stop White’s plan of taking on f6, doubling your pawns, and destroying your king’s castle. How to do that?

Yes! This is the best way to stop White’s plan. The idea of stopping this “gang up” on your pinned knight is a really important one to remember.