I mean, if you castle in a bad position, then you have the disadvantage.
But I mean if you castle and give checkmate or something, then you have the advantage.
Not playing any sides here, but in general you can't really decide if casting is "good" or "bad".
I mean, it depends on the position, to me.
What do you think?
As a player of the lovely Hippopotamus (the finest chess opening known to Man), I often castle late, or even by hand deliberately (to slow down the pace of the game).
I can think of no other opening (except, perhaps, the hedgehog or a really risky version of the Sicilian) where castling isn't usually a bit of a priority.
If the center remains closed, castling can be delayed a bit. But in this world there are too many sharp tactical players (who don't mind sacrificing a piece) to make me EVER feel comfortable delaying castling for too long, even if the center is pretty closed.
Except when playing the Prince of Paradox -- the Baron of Backwardness -- the lovely Hippopotamus. Then I not only can, but must, take my time before castling.
And even when playing the Hippo, a man can still get squished by tactical shenanigans if he waits TOO long to castle. I don't know if a woman can get so squished. I haven't seen any women playing the Hippo yet. Some might say to me, uncharitably, that most women have too much common sense to play the Hippo. I hope that's not the explanation.
