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Is Castling Overrated?

If I remember correctly, Tal wrote that one of his main preoccupations was keeping his opponent's king in the centre.
I've had seen and played practicall everything. Hundreds of games without castling, stuff like this which is somewhat still in the reigns of "theory" (league game at board 1 against a FM):

Castling is a question of principle and rules of thumb. It is not compulsory. Is it over rated to dress for winter? It all depends if winter is cold or warm. In chess if you feel the heat, find some shade for your king.

Once you know which way your opponent castled you can then decide if you want the king to stay in the action or take cover on the same side as the opponents king.

Principles will tell you not to castle on the side that the opponent pushed the pawns. If the centre is blocked, then the wings are active. So it's probably not a good thing to castle. If the King side is active, then maybe the Queen side is calmer. Pick the side that is calm and get that rook towards a semi-open or open central column.

You're saving a tempo or more by castling. In other words, you're playing twice during the same opponent position. That's a free extra move, why waste it? If you don't castle think of it as if you're giving the opponent an extra move, since you're not planning ahead of time to castle. Image you don't castle and the opponent does. Who got the extra move? Obviously the opponent that castles. Castling early can cause a situation. You're letting your opponent know which side your castling before a pawn structure of the pieces are developed in a general area. You're helping your opponent develop the pieces and create a pawn structure according to the side you castled.

Follow a rule of thumb: You're not forced to castle on the side the opponents pawn chain is pointing.

In other words: If the most advance pawn is in the centre think of castling. If the advanced pawn is on the Queen side, think of castling king side. If the advanced pawn is on the King side, think of castling Queen side.

King safety is paramount.

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