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| There are 1,142 examples of this setup in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database |
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The game continued with the move that occurs in 651 of the Mega25 games, 9...0-0-0?!
The list of well-known names who have played this is impressive, including Alexander Alekhine, Rudolf Spielmann, Lev Psakhis, Nigel Short and Wesley So.
But the move reminds me of correspondence player Charles Warburton's comment in My Chess Adventures that queenside castling is "probably the most dangerous move in chess."
Certainly the engines strongly dislike castling long in the diagram, whereas after castling short they reckon Black is close to having equalised.
LESSON: queenside castling is often the more-exciting choice in chess, but it is usually double-edged, especially for Black.
Footnote 1: My Chess Adventures is an entertaining read. If you see a secondhand copy for a reasonable price, it is well worth getting - the sole one I could find at Amazon is on offer at £71.87.
Footnote 2: I have had the position after 9...0-0-0?! five times with white, scoring +2=1-2. That is hardly setting the world on fire, but in those five games my average rating was 1875, and I performed to an average of 1994.
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