Wednesday 7 April 2021

Castling is a good idea, even when it isn't

 Looking through some of the games from the recently completed O2C Doeberl Cup, I came across the following quick win by GM Anton Smirnov over Willis Lo. On move 17 Lo chose not to castle, and connected his rooks with Kf7. A few moves later his position started to get worse and it all fell apart by move 27. At least to my eyes, Lo would have done better to castle on move 17, although weirdly, after 18.Qd3, Kf7 would have been played anyway. The difference may be that by having a rook on f8 instead of h8, Black might have been in a position to defend the kingside a little better. 


Smirnov,Anton (2597) - Lo,Willis (2101) [D10]
Doeberl Cup Premier chess24.com (3.4), 02.04.2021


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