Letter #19 -  2014

Sub:    Confusion on castling
Date:    07/31/14  04:13:23 PM EDT
From:  teamokla
To:      service@chess-poster.com

Good afternoon,

I have a question I wish you could help me solve.

If during a game, the castling maneuver is chosen (I'm referring specifically to the black kingside castling) but the black Rook is threatened by a white piece (in this case white Queen attacks the black Rook along the diagonal), is it possible to perform the castling or is an illegal move?

Is the black King unable to castle until the attacked Rook is no longer threatened?

Please help me out to clear this matter.

Greetings.
 

Dear viewer,

If a player chooses to make the castling move on either side, his/her King is not allowed to pass through any square that is attacked by an enemy piece. However, this rule does not apply to the Rooks.

The following graphic is a perfect example of this:

In the above picture, the black King can make either a kingside or queenside castling even that the h-8 black Rook is under attack by the white Queen or the a-8 black Rook is on the path of attack of the white Rook.

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