When is it the good time to castle?

I think you have ever heard "to castle as early as possible". But when is it good to castle?

24. f4? What is a good move for Black? Black To Move.

24. Rxe3! 25. Qxe3? Bxd4

nice tactic!!

Castling is often done for one of two reasons.

1.To place your rook on a better square.

2.To make your king safer.

Now just Castle if either 1. or 2. seems like a good idea.

Master level knowledge.

This is only part of it. You haven't see the finish stuff. It's even more exciting than this.

Part 2. Much more exciting.Black To move and finish it.

thanks.

An interesting question is when is it advantageous to delay Castling?

I have been studying some of Yasser Seirawan's games & when he plays a closed opening he doesn't castle early, sometimes he doesn't castle at all!

Another thing to take into account is after an early exchange of Queens ther may be less pressure to Castle early, sometimes the tempo can be used to advantage elsewhere.

I read somewhere that after Queens & 1 pair of rooks are exchanged then Castling (depending on positions) may not always be necessary.

Just some food for thought when thinking about Castling

Castle when you don't have other good moves or when casting Its a good move

He even says as much in his lectures. 

As someone who also plays the French, I have learnt through experience castling kingside too early is often a bad idea!

I totally agree, its hammered into us as beginners to Castle early & thats what we do, but there comes a time when you can make a judgement in openings like the French to delay castling to our own advantage. Yasser Seirawan points this out brilliantly in a couple of his lectures with his own games to illustrate the point.

Castling can be a disaster if you castle right into the teeth of an attack. NM-Dale is exactly right. Don't just do it as soon as you can--make sure it accomplishes its proper purpose.

If the center is OPEN and Queens are still on the board...CASTLE IMMEDIATELY. Especially if your opponent is already catled adding his rook to the pressure down the center. If the centert is closed you can usually wait or if the Queens have been exchanged.

That's what I want to show in my game above. pls look at it. I didn't castle. Instead I attacked from a and h file. In that game, I succeeded. But that's because of blunders.

Back to the game from #7, it gets more exciting. You should finish this game.This all about tactics. You are ahead. Try to finish it.

For me? I often castle late except in some openings.

If you reach 1600+, you know you don't have to castle when it's not needed. Tactics and postitional are more important to learn than not to castle.

We don't NEED no stinking CASTLING.

White castles and gets crushed. My King just saunters around in the center, facing White's Queen and both Rooks, and never even gets his hair mussed.

Good game. But super GM's don't play 1. e4 c5 anymore. It's left to us amateurs as souvenir.